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THE
country’s stomach comes first. This much is clear to
both economists and businessmen, who both surely know
what they are talking about since without food, there is
no hope for other economic activities.
The
warning has also underlined what is actually
happening—it is not commercial rice that is lacking but
affordable rice for the huge majority of people who are
the backbone of the economic activities. In short, the
working class.
The
warning—urgent and strong—from both sectors followed the
presidential advice to eat less rice, a call that
critics deemed insulting to the poor who have nothing
but rice to eat. More angry reactions greeted on
Thursday the plan of the National Food Authority to
increase the price of government rice, the cheapest of
all.
The
planned price increase got even the goat of Speaker
Prospero Nograles. “Tao muna, bago kita [People
first before profit]. Precisely, that’s why there is the
NFA rice which should serve as a buffer for the people
to have access to the staple food. I don’t think this is
a wise idea when the poor are sweating under the
scorching heat of the sun, lining up just for 2 kilos of
NFA rice.”
Businessmen and economists emphasized that even if it
has to sacrifice other projects or end up with a higher
budget deficit, the government must not hesitate to
subsidize the procurement of rice at this time.
This is
even true even if, as estimated by the financial
services giant Credit Suisse, the government is bound to
lose around P54.2 billion this year if it subsidizes
rice imports. Credit Suisse itself had described even
that loss as tolerable.
Samie
Lim, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (PCCI), said on Thursday it does not matter
where the government gets the money for the subsidy
because “food security should be its first
priority....If there are other government projects that
will have to be compromised, then so be it.”
Analyst
Peter Wallace of the Wallace Business Forum said the
government has no alternative at this time but to
subsidize the staple even if it means borrowing funds or
kissing goodbye to President Arroyo’s fierce intention
and fervent hopes of balancing the budget.
Wallace
added the government has two options—to sacrifice other
state projects or simply overspend. “If the government
suffers a deficit because of this, then they just have
to explain to the international financial community how
they ran into this situation.”
Michael
Wootton, chairman of the British Business Council, said
the government should put the people’s interest first
before giving emphasis on balancing the budget. “You
can’t put fiscal consideration above everything else.
The government has to help.”
Nograles,
in seeming agreement with the expressed opinion of the
private sector, said the government must first exhaust
all available options to cushion the spiraling prices of
rice and other basic commodities before even thinking of
increasing the price of NFA rice.
“The NFA
should not operate for profit but to protect our people
from profiteers. The National Food Authority was
established to ensure a stable supply of rice at
affordable prices. I don’t think the President will like
the idea,” he added.
Lim and
Wallace acknowledge, however, that subsidizing rice is a
short-term measure and should be followed up by
longer-term solutions such as increasing production by
fully supporting rice farming with irrigation and inputs
such as fertilizers, farm-to-market roads and
postproduction facilities such as grain dryers.
Lim
added there should be a “comprehensive review of how the
budget for irrigation, seedlings and fertilizers were
spent. If these funds were used properly, there should
not be any shortage at all.”
He also
suggested that the government first make the subsidy
last for a 60-day period and then see what happens next
when the country’s own harvest comes in.
Wallace,
on the other hand, said the government should look at
the postharvest handling of rice because too much of the
harvests are lost at this stage—estimates go as high as
an unconscionable 20 percent, but which the government
has neglected to address properly, opting for—according
to critics—big-ticket, “pogi-point” projects.
Wallace
strongly seconded the many suggestions from all sectors
that the State clamp down on all unscrupulous traders
and millers—especially the powerful rice cartel exposed
by the Senate several years ago but which continues to
operate—who are manipulating the supply of rice.
Nograles
cautioned the government critics and militant groups,
however, from exploiting the situation to inflict more
harm on the economy in the pursuit of their various
political interests.
“The
food problem is a global problem aggravated by the
continuous hike in oil prices, the decline in world food
production, rapid population growth and internal
political distractions,” said Nograles. |
