problem, not the blame

It is a sad commentary in our time that for every problem coming our way, the preferred and, in some instances, the only solution by people who should know better is to fix the blame, not the problem.

Whether that concerns power rates, oil prices, traffic, waste disposal or even road rage, politicians and do-gooders masquerading as advocacy groups or worse, self-anointed experts, immediately hit the road with headline-grabbing finger-pointing in the name of, you guessed it, “truth and accountability,” as if such will solve the problem at hand.

It is time we put a stop to this unhealthy habit of blame-fixing and focus on solving our problems.

For, if truth be told, many, if not all, of these problems antedate the Arroyo administration and will definitely remain, maybe even worsen, beyond its term, unless we come around to reasonably and dispassionately debate the whys, wherefores and how-tos as any mature society does, in getting to the roots of the issue and agreeing to a holistic and sustainable solution.

The “tantrumatic” finger-pointing, name-calling, contrived anger and similar antics as has been seen with some of our elders will never get us anywhere. Not now. Maybe never.

Take the case of rice and official development assistance (ODA). The problems now bedeviling these matters are nothing new. We have experienced most, if not all, of these before.

In the case of rice, forebodings of shortage, spiraling prices, quick-fix solutions and the like with all the attendant name-calling and insinuations of corruption have come our way.

The same is true with the ODA. Overpricing and price-fixing, corruption and other misdeeds have accompanied many of these foreign-funded projects, including those touted as grants-in-aid by the donor countries. So pervasive and ingrained have these problems and practices become for years on end that for our leaders and the multitude of do-gooders to suggest otherwise is to be less than honest and forthcoming.

The question is: What have they done about these problems besides whining and finger-pointing until the next headline story comes along?

In the case of rice, are the flame-throwers aware that for almost four decades now from the 1960s to 2000, there were only nine rice surplus years as against 27 deficit years recorded? Are they also aware that the acreage devoted to rice production has actually decreased as a percentage of tillable land?

Are they aware that many of our irrigation systems and postharvest facilities are in disrepair and will require billions of pesos to rehabilitate and enhance for optimum use? Are they also aware that at the rate our population is growing, we must achieve a higher rate of growth in our agricultural production, especially on the basic staples, if we are to have a reasonable degree of food security? 

Are they also aware that the possible food crisis is global, not just local, a situation which, like oil, can spike at any given time? Are they also aware that right now, we are heavily subsidizing our rice production and consumption in the billions of pesos—from maintaining a price-support system via high tariffs and the like for our farmers and another for our consumers via the National Food Authority (NFA)?

This issue of agricultural subsidies in both developing and developed countries, as everybody knows, has been hounding the stalled World Trade Organization’s Doha Round of negotiations, which definitely impacts on our own situation.  

These, more than hoarding, import overprice and levies and repacking of NFA rice, are to my mind the more critical issues which should be addressed now if we are to secure ourselves from the negative impact of the expected global food crisis. These are the concerns, besides a thorough review of 20 years of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (CARP) Program which we hope our leaders, in and out government, will focus on as we, as one people, go through these difficult times.

This is not to suggest that we should let the hoarders, the price gougers and the corrupt go unpunished. Far from it.

What we are merely saying is that while we point fingers and throw the books at the worst offenders, we should be prepared with the sustainable solutions to this age-old problem to ensure that we are not swamped with quick fixes and illusory ones which will only worsen, not alleviate our lives in the long term.

In a word, we should recognize that this is an age-old systemic problem which will not go away even as President Arroyo comes around with timely and focused measures to ease the pain, so to speak.

Same is true with ODA

In the same manner, the ODA problem, if we may call it such, highlighted by the NBN-ZTE telenovela, has been with us for years on end and will surely remain or even worsen if we do not do anything with the old and tired mores and practices, no matter what the funding comes from.

Today, it is Chinese ODA. Yesterday and on a continuing basis, the Japanese and US aid programs were the talk of the town as far as irregular and possibly corrupt practices were concerned. Some years back, as in the time of Presidents Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos, it was an amalgam of European Union members associated with the famously corrupt and ultimately nonworking Telepono sa Barangay for which we are paying royally in billions annually.

Yes, sir, we have gathered a whole lexicon of such questionable issues from the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant to the ODA-assisted CARP to the World Bank (WB)/Asian Development Bank-assisted reforestation and National Integrated Protected Areas System projects to the independent power producers to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and National Power Corp. privatizations, and even the sale of the country’s crown jewels with help from the WB/International Finance Corp. and the like, the system which produced what the born-again crusaders are now haranguing the Arroyo administration about remains.

Worse, it promises to get even more problematic and ingrained if no measures are put in place to review the funding priorities, streamline the processes and, generally, make the entire system more transparent, people-friendly and accountable.

The case of the questioned Japanese-funded irrigation project in Bohol and now the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway are instructive.

We are told that these projects have experienced unexplained cost overruns and, in some instances, undue interference from the local government units and local contractors.

But the more problematic part of the entire process, as advised by some experts, is the fact that these projects, like most, if not all, of the ODA-funded ones from whatever source, is the fact that the final decisions on what to do with what we are borrowing or guaranteeing is the foreign funder. And that, if experience teaches us, leads to more problems than we can imagine.

So, like the rice issue, there is a need to look at the system and the processes in as focused and deliberate a manner as possible before things get out of hand. Sana nga.

All’s well that ends well.

That’s the obvious conclusion now that the Sumilao farmers and San Miguel Corp. have hammered out what appears to be a win-win solution for both sides, and we’re glad that this case highlighting the long-standing problem of agrarian reform and social injustice in this country is now over.

Returning from a conference in Mexico, I witnessed an unusual scene. An American at Cabos airport was attempting to pay for his drinks with a British 20-pound note.

I have yet to find a person who will sincerely say that he does not want to be wealthy. While there may be those who claim they prefer not to be wealthy, I really doubt that they really meant what they say.

Through the Looking Glass: Protecting pretense and privilege

Because one person sought protection from having to complete a self-ignited allegation, refusing to perfect accusations and hiding behind secrecy and privilege, we may have just inadvertently endangered the last pillar holding up our increasingly endangered democracy.

Coast-to-Coast: On rice and ODA: Fix the problem, not the blame

It is a sad commentary in our time that for every problem coming our way, the preferred and, in some instances, the only solution by people who should know better is to fix the blame, not the problem.

The Entrepreneur: No threats, please

A big mistake!

That’s the first thing that came to mind after reading reports that a member of the Cabinet had threatened to send tax examiners to private companies following the Makati Business Club’s (MBC) statement calling for the resignation of officials in connection with the controversial national broadband network (NBN)-ZTE contract.

Reflections from the Mirror: Rice prices rise

The opposition is insisting that the country is undergoing a rice crisis and that the administration is to blame for the rising prices of the different varieties of rice.