Tuesday, April 08, 2008 Pooled editorials: Handling the rice situation
FIRST, there is some doubt about the rice crisis, whether it is not being used to distract people’s attention from the ZTE scandal.
Then, there is the confusion about the extent of the problem, who or what is the culprit, and what’s being done about it.
Point One may just be speculative, stirring in the opposition mind, hostile and distrusting. Yet, given an administration in a life-and-death situation and a president who has been defending her seat from the time she was proclaimed until now, it is not unimaginable or remote.
Point Two is more real than apparent. Never mind the confusion: Is there a shortage of rice or not? Or who is to blame: retailers, wholesalers, rice millers? Or what is punishable: Is it hoarding when rice is stocked according to business strategy and market forces?
Long queues
Just consider the bottom line: Middle-class and poor people cannot buy cheap rice or have to suffer long queues to get it.
If the administration is tinkering with the rice issue to defuse the nation’s wrath over “immoderate greed,” it better be careful.
The rice issue is heavily political. Discontent over the price or availability of the staple can send the President’s poll ratings to the floor, and might evict the Arroyos from Malacañang.
Palace bright boys, who think the rice factor weighs heavily only during elections, disregard the reality that it is rice problem on top of other woes. Rage over lack of food on the table combined with disgust over unmitigated corruption might finally set off another people’s revolt.
Response, predators.
People expect short-term solutions. They appreciate quick measures, such as importing more rice, using more retail outlets, and subsidizing the cost of low-price rice.
They don’t approve, however, of tactics like raiding warehouses when that won’t amount to anything since the law and rules against hoarding and economic sabotage are not made clear and not seriously enforced.
There’s clearly a compelling need to review the system of producing, importing and distributing rice.
As to the enormous amount of money and materials promised as aid to farmers, people are wary about how much of that will go to corruption and what will be left for its real purpose: food security.
And yes: Who’ll guard the new largesse from usual predators in goverment, including those linked to the ZTE scandal, who lurk in the shadows or walk the corridors of power? [Sun.Star Cebu]
