recently and there are concerns that they might soon reach levels that many individuals and families could not afford.
I heard this complaint recently while talking to a woman who was out in town looking for some filleted fishes to use in preparing some “Obong” for a funeral function. “I was very surprised when I went to this establishment, which used to prepare and sell this type of food, when they told me two pieces of filleted fishes would cost me $8.00. Before, I could get the same items for less than $4.00”, the woman said. The woman also said that the prices of cooked sweet taros (Kukau), swamp taros (Prak), sweet potatoes (Emutii) and tapiocas have also gone up in most places that sell these items. An elderly gentleman, who was also listening to the woman’s complaints, said it is difficult to find the real causes for these increases in the prices of essential commodities. “Business people blame the increased shipping costs and the increases on the price of imported fuels as reasons for the high prices, but the Government says we have no financial problems. It might be right for fishermen to raise the prices of their catches considering that the price of gasoline to run their fishing boats have recently gone up considerably”, he said. The Lady looking for fillet fishes pointed out something else. “There is a law exempting essential commodities such as certain food items and medicines from import taxes, which should make these essential commodities outside the increases, which are being imposed on all imported items for sale. Is this law being implemented or not?”, she asked Things wouldn’t be so bad if all the people in the country, especially those living in the villages outside of Koror, have regular incomes to feed and sustain their families. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The situation must change for the better when we enter our second Compact Treaty with the United States. Our Public leaders should stop fighting each other and begin thinking about establishing programs and projects that could provide paying jobs for the people. They need paying jobs, not in fifteen years from now but today.The Palauan Abai at the Museum ground is the second genuine Traditional Abai to be built on this same location Last week, I wrote in this column about the Traditional Palauan Abai that was constructed on the Palau Museum ground in 1971 by builders from Ngaremlengui. Patrick Tellei, PCC President, called me and clarified that the present Abai at the Museum is the second Abai to be built on that location. He explained that the Abai built in 1971 was burned down in 1979 and that Sabino Anastacio and young men from Ngchesar were contracted in 1991 to build the Abai standing there today. Scholar that he is, Patrick Tellei even recorded the names of the people involved in the project. They were Sabino Anastacio (Contractor), Tabo Ngiramengior (Master Builder), Kitalong Dulei and Paul Kitalong (workers). Robat Saburo, Ado Imetuker, Bruce Ngirkuteling, and Linus Ngiraibuuch did the painting and carving works on the Abai. The masterpiece standing there today is this group’s creation.
