“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.” – NIKOLA TESLA
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If you – as I am – are in a great quandary as to the reason (or reasons) why the rice supply situation in the Philippines is in grave trouble, just take a quick look at Vietnam today.
Just recently, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, PBBM and Vietnam’s PM Pham Minh Chinh talked and are almost close to sealing a five-year rice supply agreement.
It may serve to remind us that our ASEAN neighbors learned the ropes on rice production during the Masagana 99 years of the first Marcos administration in the 70s.
What went wrong? Where have we gone wrong?
Agriculture is our country’s backbone.
It is God’s pre-destined resource for the Filipinos and rice has been the staple food of this nation they call the “Pearl of the Orient Seas.”
It now becomes ironical and a paradox at the same time, that the Filipino family is suffering from a lack of adequate rice supply, groaning and groping with the rising prices.
The solutions to this dismal food equation have been palliative.
The tarification law passed by Congress has not smartly responded to the circumstances of the times as the government is now more dependent on importing the commodity rather than increasing domestic production.
How many secretaries of the Agriculture Department have come and gone without anyone achieving a measure of success in ensuring the Filipino family will not run out of food supply?
As an archipelagic nation, every nook and cranny of its geography is surrounded by agricultural-based resource that it is often said the Filipino will not go hungry even when the rest of the world goes hungry.
Such is the thematic perspective in the Philippines that is why several “conquistadores” and foreign hegemonic and imperialist countries adventured to Southeast Asia to partake of the bounty.
Who do we blame for this sad, mournful and gloomy economic conditions the 110 million Pinoys now endure?
Do we blame climate change or the cumulative performances of past and present national leadership?
Do we point an accusing finger at the natural calamities or the past and present Congress?
Are the cartels and middlemen to blame because they manipulate the supply to raise their profits at the expense of the poor and suffering Pinoys?
Do we ignore and side-step the stark reality that our own people are to blame for their negative corrupt attitude and morally-decadent lifestyle?
Some are even blaming God Almighty.
We need to go down to brass tacks, don’t we?
Getting down to the root of the problem will reveal exactly what solutions are necessary.
We have intelligent and academically-qualified government people with vast experience in their own chosen field, is it not?
Is government too damn slow to respond or there is none capable to do the job?
Are the laws passed by Congress meant to apply permanent solutions or band-aid remedies?
It is exasperating to observe and notice that agriculture-based products like onions, garlic, poultry, swine and beef becoming less and less affordable and outside of the reach of families existing with a fregular income.
So, what’s more with Filipinos in the lower D and E economic brackets?
Mind you, today even Cambodia has offered to export rice to us.
Modesty aside, Cambodia, compared to the Philippines, may not be in our league. But to think that its government is offering us a way out of our pitiful condition, already speaks volumes of our erratic policy-making and mis-governance.
Those senate and congressional hearings seem only to project and propel positive images of our lawmakers.
But there is plenty of work to do and the voluminous task is overwhelming them, it now appears.
Vietnam is bailing us out of the current rice misery.
Filipinos should send them a “Thank You” card.. (Email feedbaack to fredlumba@yahoo.com). GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
