|
The
Arroyo administration has enriched our vocabulary by
giving another shade of meaning to the word “access.”
Officials recently announced that “access cards” would
be issued to some 100,000 households in Metro Manila as
beneficiaries of cheap, government-subsidized rice.
What
this seeming preferential option for the urban poor—and
the urban poor alone—really amounts to is rationing.
After
weeks of trying to look compassionate by selling cheap
rice using a scattergun approach—through the rolling
stores of the National Food Authority (NFA), barangay
outlets and Catholic parishes—the authorities finally
realized that the distribution of government-subsidized
cereals has not been properly focused.
Evidently, many of those who have been queuing for NFA
rice are not destitute at all. Independent media
accounts—in print, photos and video—have shown a
disturbing number of them devising various schemes to
get more than their allotted two to three kilos, then
loading the government-subsidized grains onto their
cars.
Meanwhile, private retailers have ended up with few
takers for their commercial rice—indicating further that
even consumers who could afford to fork out a few more
pesos are able to get cheap NFA rice. If this classic
case of market distortion goes on, commercial rice
retailers—and producers—would go out of business. Worse,
we taxpayers would end up footing the bill for the
cereal consumption of even those consumers who are not
all that poor.
The
access cards are supposed to correct this and other
anomalies in the distribution of NFA rice. However, as
the nongovernment organization Foodfirst Information &
Action Network-Philippines (FIAN), asked with good
reason: Why Metro Manila only?
FIAN,
which describes itself as a human-rights organization,
pointed out that many more families of rural workers,
fishermen and peasants live below subsistence levels in
such provinces as Quezon,
Masbate, Camarines Norte,
Northern Samar
, Surigao del Norte, Maguindanao, Zamboanga del Norte
and Misamis Occidental.
“Is this
[access-cards scheme] not discriminatory against the
poor families living in [those] areas?” asked FIAN. “Or
is Metro Manila again the focus of the government as
part of its political survival strategy of pouring cold
water on ‘hot spots’?”
The
obvious answer to both questions is yes.
It is
the legions of the poor in the capital region that
frighten most the administration, just like its
predecessors and, most likely, even its successors. The
middle class—if only it sets its mind to doing so—has
shown itself quite capable of toppling presidents.
However, in terms of electoral clout, it is the urban
poor that constitute the constant, ongoing threat to
whoever happens to be in power.
The
urban poor have also shown themselves to be quite
willing to be used as warm
bodies for political action, whether for or against the
incumbent administration. If you come right down to it,
the access-card scheme is but the latest manifestation
of the “rent-a-crowd” attitude of cynics who view the
poor as mere pawns and cannon fodder.
No less
than Secretary Esperanza Cabral of the Department of
Social Welfare and Development has warned that cheap
government rice could be used as a political tool. More
prophetic words have never been spoken by one so
credible and competent.
With
barangay captains and mayors designating which
households are entitled to access cards, FIAN warned
that beneficiaries could be chosen on the basis of “who
they voted for or by their bloodline, and not on their
food vulnerability.”
The
Philippines is a signatory to the Voluntary Guidelines
to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to
Adequate Food, an international convention approved by
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. As pointed out
by FIAN, Guideline 13 of the convention provides:
“States should establish transparent, nondiscriminatory
eligibility criteria in order to ensure effective
targeting of assistance, so that no one who is in need
is excluded or those not in need of assistance are
included.”
By
issuing access cards only in Metro Manila, the
government is obviously favoring the urban poor over
their rural counterparts—as if the hunger that has begun
to grip the city were entirely different from the
specter that has long been haunting the countryside. |
