THE President is known for being an economist but her records show, as I have reported in my previous column, an economy that is totally topsy-turvy. She is promoting the export of human labor, calling OFWs the modern heroes and saviors of our country.

On top of this, the World Bank has exposed her as a corrupt economist who is robbing our OFWs from their hard-earned money by artificially manipulating the exchange rate of the peso against the dollar with about seven peso for every dollar remitted.

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Another big anomaly in our economy is the underdevelopment and unproductivity of our agricultural sector, in particular the rice farmers, by depriving them of the means to be productive: higher buying prices for their palay, subsidized credit, irrigation, farm inputs and post-harvest facilities. Our farmers are subjected to destructive waves of competition.

In the run up to the Asean summit meeting this weekend Thailand threatened that it would not ratify the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga) unless the Philippines opened up its rice sector further to Thai rice exports. The Philippines is under pressure to concede greater tariff-free import quotas for Thai rice, or maybe even its equivalent in other export interest to Thailand.

Another friend of mine, a concerned OFW abroad, called my attention to what was going on during the Asean summit meeting this weekend. She wrote me: “For many years now RP has been importing rice from her neighboring countries. News of the ASEAN summit meeting shows it is becoming worse. What an irony! Isn’t it ridiculous? If not, an insult to a country which has huge potentials for rice production.”

The Asean summit meeting highlights the hazards of entering into free trade deals from a position of weakness. Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter and is now maneuvering to get the Philippines become the world’s biggest rice importer, according to IBON Foundation, Inc. One out of every ten spoonfuls of rice Filipinos eat is imported from abroad. It says that Filipino rice farmers can produce sufficiently for the needs of the nation if only they are given the chance.

How about the vast tracts of agricultural lands, large parts of which are best suited and very productive for rice cultivation! Probably our rice lands are even much larger than that of Thailand. If we produce our own rice I am sure that we can feed the whole Filipino population and we can even export. Rice is our staple food. Food security must be a government’s top priority.

The President should know that she must stand up against those pressures from other countries. She should be firm and rather support our rice farmer-producers by all means possible. If she does not, then many of these farmers will become extinct and millions more will go hungry.

We must remember all this next year when we cast our vote for the next President of the Philippines. He must be ready to correct these basic lapses of our present economy. (For your comments email: arnvv@yahoo.com)