WHEN veteran mediaman Val Acapulco and his family were quarantined at their house in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City during the country’s outbreak of Covid-19 virus in 2020, all he begged his friends and the local government to provide them were some bottles of Coca-Cola.

“I don’t know if it's an addiction but I’m really craving for soft drinks during meals, especially Coca-Cola,” said the now 69-year-old Acapulco.

Amid the prevailing crisis of carbonated water and the abject poverty suffered by most Filipinos, Acapulco said he would still look for Cola drinks, even if its smallest size called ‘Mismo’ is now sold at P35 from the much cheaper original price of P10 in mini stores.

And since he’d love to consume it every meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner), it is but normal for Acapulco to have an average soft drink intake of three bottles a day.

“The sweet taste-flavored caffeine I’ve been taking it since my early 20s. But praise God I have no problem with my recent general check-up results. My BP, sugar level and kidney organs were all in good condition,” he said.

Acapulco and the rest of the soft drinks lovers elsewhere in the country ― be it a doctor, sportsman, or ordinary person ― were quite alarmed after the
the Philippines’ projected sugar production of 2.03 million metric tons fell short by 200,000 tons, thus resulting in the scarcity of soft drinks.

Even Coca-Cola Philippines, the country’s flagship in carbonated drinks, was forced to suspend operations in some of its key manufacturing plants in the country owing to a sugar shortage.

“I’m a doctor but I’m also into soft drinks I just can’t resist its mouth-feel temptation,” said Dr. Teodoro Yu Jr, Misamis Oriental’s assistant provincial health officer, who prefers the less sugar-laced Coke Zero instead.

Yu said he understood that anything with much sugar content could lead to diabetic disease, hence the need for self-discipline and awareness.

But he considered the soft drinks crisis as a blessing in disguise.

“When there’s a scarcity of production, there’s also less intake among the habitual Coke drinkers. And it improves my health,” Yu said.

In a recent briefing with the DTI-Misamis Oriental, it was known that the declining supply of sugar has also led to the hoarding of soft drink products by some unscrupulous traders.

Lawyer Ruth Sybil Salvador, DTI mediation officer, told the local press that her desk already received a couple of complaints from sari-sari store owners of bodegas and warehouses hoarding soft drinks, making it more expensive than from its 100 percent price in July 2022.

Although the situation is unfavorable for sugar lovers, former Philippine team basketball stalwart Hermogenes Anciado said the scant supply of addictive carbonated drinks is somewhat favorable to the welfare of the athletes.

“It’s not good for training I tell you. The players will gain weight when taking it (soft drinks) to their heart’s content. And it’s a fact,” said Anciado, now the resident chief trainer of the city’s sports program in basketball.

“Every time I conduct hoops clinic, I always tell the participants that one thing to improve them is to forget about drinking soft drinks,” he added.

For female doctor Joy Barba-Viña of the Provincial Health Office, drinking soft drinks is just okay as long as it will not reach the point of addiction.

Viña said a human being’s belly has already its own natural acid that feeding too much of it (acidic drinks) could be detrimental to one’s health.

“Everybody loves soft drinks especially during special occasions so as not to bore our taste buds. But we should do it in a moderate way just like alcohol that should be limited only within the confine of social drinking,” Viña said, adding “water is still the best.”