Thursday, April 03, 2008 So: 'Bibingka' effect By Michelle P. So Caught in the Net
I FELT the effect of the scarcity of rice and the consequential increase of its price yesterday.
The bibingka (rice cake) that I bought for P4 last Monday already cost P5 yesterday. I patronize local products and buy them with some regard for the cost, yet the increase of the price of bibingka in a matter of days was somewhat too much for my wallet.
I pointed out to the bibingka magnate, Vilma Dumoran, that the one-peso difference was a 25 percent jump from the old price. And the increase came just two days after she launched the bibingka!
Vilma, the chief librarian of Sun.Star Cebu and a proprietor of a salon that can turn a beast into a golden brown-maned beauty after an hour, said the price of the kind of rice that she uses for her bibingka has increased from P26/kilo to P30/kilo. And, she said, it’s not NFA rice she uses but sinandoming (whose quality is on par with ganador) and its variety is among those that retailers put a high value on.
Officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) can tell the public again and again until they get hoarse that the supply of rice is stable, but the market stalls show a situation that run contrary to their statements.
Invoking the law of supply and demand, grains retailers say they’re not getting their regular stock, which explains why prices have gone up. Look, our warehouse is empty, they say, we have run out of our rice supply!
An empty warehouse doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no stock. It can also mean that the stock is being kept elsewhere or held back. As I write this, a warehouse in Mandaue City is being raided for rice hoarding.
Just yesterday, 21 Cebu rice retailers were found to have overpriced rice, refused sale to consumers and declared their stocks depleted. They stand to lose their licenses as grains retailers.
In Manila, militant constituents of President Arroyo banged pots and pans to protest the “spiraling increase” of the price of rice and to blame Arroyo for causing the poor rice production in the country. They blame her for everything anyway, including probably for Gabby Concepcion’s backing out from making a cruise-themed movie with Jolina Magdangal.
In a way, the government is to blame for the “rice shortage.” The country’s reliance on imported agricultural produce, which is being facilitated by the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (Afma), has led to the neglect of the local farms. Afma is a trade liberalization policy that has put local farmers at a disadvantage because it has made imported agricultural goods more accessible to the Filipinos and local produce more expensive.
A national food summit is scheduled tomorrow, April 4, in Clark, Pampanga to focus on the “rice crisis” and come up with policy proposals that will improve production of rice and other grains. The summit will be attended by 500 farmers, millers, traders, scientists and government officials led by President Arroyo.
I hope something concrete and useful to the local rice farmers and to Vilma, The Bibingka Magnate comes out of the summit.
