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POLITICS, politics, politics everywhere has messed up a
lot of lives of Filipinos and in the “rice crisis” has
again reared its ugly head to stave off additional
production of the staple that threatens to increase
hunger, already rising from previous years.
This is
the lament of former President Fidel Ramos, who declared
Sunday he is not yet sure whether there is already a
“rice crisis” while acknowledging the staple’s shortage.
This
shortage, he said, could have been mitigated, if not
outrightly avoided, if the administration had only made
use of a number of dams built during his tenure to
irrigate farmlands in
Luzon.
The
former president also spoke against the government rice
subsidy because this is “a double-bladed weapon” that in
the long run might disadvantage the government, with its
imports of 1.2 million tons of rice—already four times
the value of rice input 10 years ago, he noted.
“It
[volume of importation] does not equate with population
growth,” he said, because it would mean that our
population grew four times during the last 10 years.”
Because of this disparity, Ramos said there is a need
for lawmakers to examine the rice-importation program,
saying there is some inefficiency going on within the
administration.
So the
need for irrigation and the use of the dams ready and
waiting to be used. Ramos mentioned the San Roque Dam,
Pantabangan and the Angat-Umiray water impounding
systems, which could provide enough water to allow two
harvests of rice a year, and the remaining months for
planting vegetables.
However,
he said “too much politics” has hindered the opening of
the San Roque Dam, which could have irrigated 87,000
hectares of farmlands in Northern Luzon.
“Until
now, the water in the dam has not been released because
there is too much politics,” Ramos said during an
airport press conference shortly before he left to head
a delegation for a three-day business conference in
Dongguan, China.
He said
San Roque Dam was constructed under the Official
Development Assistance program with Japanese funds. The
Japanese have refused to release the funds to make the
dam operational because they fear that too much politics
is interfering in the project.
Ramos
said the Pantabangan Dam, built during the Marcos
regime, had been rehabilitated during his term and
connects to the Casicnan and Umiray rivers with a
26-kilometer tunnel to provide water for 100,000
hectares in Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Bulacan.
At the
same time, he said that the Angat-Umiray project had
been completed but lacks government funds to make the
irrigation aspect of the project operational.
“One of
the most important factors in agriculture is
irrigation,” said Ramos in bewailing the
administration’s lack of focus on the use of existing
water-supply systems, even in Mindanao. “I hope they
would focus on the irrigation component of our existing
water-conservation system and infrastructure.”
He
deplored the conversion of farmlands into subdivisions
and industrial zones, saying the country should revisit
its “land-use” policy. During his tenure, the conversion
of arable lands into golf courses and other recreational
purposes was prohibited, unless the land is on very
steep slope, Ramos claimed.
“The
population issues, of course, must also be revisited
because the government has prohibited artificial
family-planning methods to be supported by the budget
and therefore this is a very big withdrawal of support
to the poorest families especially those in the
countryside.”
In the
field, the traditional rice granary of the Philippines—Nueva
Ecija—continues, ironically, to lack affordable
government-subsidized rice and lines at rice stores have
grown longer and longer as the days pass amid claims of
the National Food Authority (NFA) that the earlier panic
resulting from the disappearance of the rice has died
down.
But on
Sunday families were dismayed to find NFA outlets in the
city’s main market closed. They suspected they would
still be closed on Monday, a declared official holiday.
The
street practice, it was gathered, is to pose as another
buyer in coming back for another round of 1-kg pack—the
government limit per customer—of the P18.25-a-kg rice.
Like some con artist, the buyer would change his shirt,
put on dark eyeshades and other possible disguises he
could ever think of to avoid being noticed. Some would
ask others to buy for them.
A kilo
of rice is good only for one meal for a family of five.
The government rice is sold only on a one-per-customer
basis. Thus, a tricycle driver or construction worker
earning around P200 a day should buy at least three
times to get his family’s rice need for the day.
The
prevailing cost of commercial rice in this province had
soared from last week’s lowest of P28 a kg to around P40
a kg. Some retailers were suspected to have displayed
old stocks, priced them a little higher than NFA rice.
The Rice
Watch Action Network (R1), a coalition of rice
advocates, described the Nueva Ecija rice-buying lineup
as rationing. “This is getting worse. If that could
happen in
Cabanatuan, which is supposed to have enough supply according to the
NFA regional manager, then the scenario is not far off
in Metro Manila. Or they could not do that here for fear
that people will panic,” said Jessica Reyes-Cantos, R1
lead convenor.
Anakpawis sectoral Rep. Rafael Mariano, in a radio
interview, said the NFA rice-buying panic noted in Nueva
Ecija was brought by the rampant government rice
diversion which needed tight watch.
Admitting there are diversion cases in his area,
Alejandro said it is hard to determine whether the
expensive commercial rice is the very rice distributed
by the NFA to accredited retailers. “They may have
perhaps brought their allocation elsewhere previously,
that’s why we are now escorting them directly to their
stores and placing somebody to monitor their store
operations until the rice is sold out.”
Malacañang on Sunday assured lawmakers of the
transparent use of the P48.7-billion fund for the
fisheries and agricultural sectors intended to improve
the country’s food sufficiency.
“To
insure that, the President is planning to appoint a
deputy Ombudsman for agriculture,” said Cerge Remonde,
Presidential Management Staff chief. |
