‘Rice, rice everywhere…’

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March Fianza

There is an oversupply of almost everything in the Philippines. Lately, we heard reports of an oversupply of nurses. But before that, we already had an oversupply of college graduates who are jobless up to now.

In Baguio , we have an oversupply of garbage consisting of the “nabubulok, di nabubulok and the naglalaok.”. We also have an oversupply of garbage trucks. These are being exhibited at the athletic bowl. Uncle Joseph Zambrano also says that there is an oversupply of lawyers in Baguio. To prove this, toss a coin on a crowded street and surely, one of those you will hit is a lawyer.

We also have an oversupply of imported rice at the same time that we have an oversupply of starving Pinoys. “We are swimming in rice,” said Lito Banayo, National Food Authority administrator.
And while Admin Banayo was saying that, Pinoys on the poorer rung of the society ladder were shouting “rice, rice everywhere but not a grain to eat.” President Noynoy in his State of the Nation Address last Monday said that more than four million Filipinos do not eat three meals a day.

As a moderate resolution to the problem of oversupply of rice coupled with the problem of feeding hungry pinoys, the government is now studying a proposal for the NFA to distribute rice to poorer households. It’s hitting two birds with one stone.

The oversupply is so big that shipments of imported rice still continue to be delivered for the current year in spite of the accumulation. Banayo does not have an estimate of the volume of rice rotting in NFA warehouses but the agency is studying the condition of the basic commodity in view of a proposal to give it away to the poor.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas upon finding reports of an oversupply of imported rice proposed right away that P-Noy distribute the surplus rice to the poor instead of leaving it to rot in NFA warehouses.

The previous administration knew that millions of tons of imported rice were stacked in NFA warehouses and also knew that millions of Pinoys were hungry, still they did not distribute the rice.

The over importation brings forth suspicions. The government kept on buying even while millions of tons imported in previous years and found rotting in warehouses have yet to be paid in full.

P-Noy said in his SONA, in 2004 and 2007, Gloria’s administration imported rice in volumes, seven times more than what was needed and leaving the rice to rot, and leaving the NFA saddled with a P177-billion utang.

Listening to rice dealers discuss the problem in their circle, they talked of two things. One, the rice imports were deliberate regardless of the country’s consumption, and; two, somebody made a killing out of the purchases.

The same rice businessmen also talked about contradictions. A majority of them do not want the government to flood the public markets with imported rice out of fear that doing so would anger rice retailers who will have to compete against the low price of NFA.

But consumers disagreed with them saying that without the lower-priced NFA rice, prices for commercial rice varieties kept on rising – non-stop.

By the way, there are reports of an oversupply of cash in one government agency. In P-Noy’s SONA last week, he mentioned about executive workers of the MWSS having allocated too much for themselves while their co-workers who have retired more than 20 years ago have not fully received their retirement benefits.

P-Noy said the agency seems to be awash with cash considering that their benefits and bonus total to an equivalent of 30 months. Ordinary government workers only receive a single month cash gift or 13th-month pay over and above a 12-month salary.

What is clear today is that the past administration has allowed a culture of impunity in stealing and cheating.

We also have an oversupply of Jueteng protectors who live on an oversupply of jueteng bettor hopefuls. The operators and their protectors are similarly related. They allot too much for themselves out of the bets of their bettors. They have become filthy rich out of the accumulated cash collected by the kubradores (bet collectors).

In fact a text message sent to a newspaper publisher and forwarded to me was in a sense protective of illegal gambling.

The text message in mixed language goes: “Ask ko lang sa inyo ano ba problema nyo sa jueteng pineperwisyo ba kayo or nagpapapansin lang kayo(?) ang jueteng maraming mahirap ang natutulungan kayong mga media maraming papahirapan(.) may maibibigay ba kayong hanapbuhay kaming matatanda at may kapansanan(?) bulok na pati ang balita nyo na yan(.) ang jueteng di pa kayo pinapanganak meron na yan(.) style nyo bulok(.) ginagamit nyo lang pang blackmail propesyon nyo(.)

The answer from my end is simple. Will a community be better off if a majority of its citizenry depend on illegal things in order to survive? Imagine a country with all its citizens participating in illegal acts justified by the mere reason that it provides livelihood.

In fact we have countries in Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East that are surviving through illegal acts. Their governments live on businesses related to propagating prohibited drugs, prostitution and illegal gambling. Their societies today are rotting – just like the oversupply of rice in our NFA warehouses. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com