Friday, April 18, 2008 Roperos: Queuing for life By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
LOOKING at a front page photo the other day of a soldier with a high-powered firearm keeping order—so its caption said—over a long queue of people buying cheap government rice in Metro Manila, I was reminded of two occasions when such scenes also became familiar.
The first was during the war years when we had to queue to buy rice from Japanese soldiers. The other was during the administration of then president Diosdado Macapagal.
During those times, rice and corn were also in short supply. The occupying Japanese used the cereal for their pacification campaign in the countryside, giving out paper bagful of rice to those who dared to come and queue along the street in front of the market place.
I saw how strictly they adhered to their code of honesty. When one man, who was well-known in the town, returned to the queue for another bag, he was dragged to the middle of the street and slapped for all to see.
The Macapagal administration in 1962 was hit by an economic crisis that saw the peso-dollar exchange rate rose from P2 to $1 to P4 to $1, then P6 to $1, etc. The EEA (Emergency Employment Administration) came into being to let the people work for emergency cash assistance.
In turn, the National Rice and Corn Corp. (Naric) sold cheap rice through mobile stores throughout the country. Cereal agencies has acquired different names through the years, depending upon the whims of the sitting president.
I could not recall the names of agencies before Naric became the National Food Authority (NFA). But I am sure there were the Rice and Corn Authority and the National Grains Authority, although they may not be in that order.
The said agencies were tasked to ensure a stable supply of rice and corn and, hopefully, make the country self-sufficient. But I could not recall, except at one period, that the country stopped importing rice.
The United States put up the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the early sixties, hoping to make our scientists experts in cereal production, and as well as train others in Asia. We did, and rice scientists from many Asian countries studied here.
Soon, the graduates from other Asian countries increased the rice yields of their palay fields. IRRI in Los Banos became very popular throughout the globe. And the Philippines?
We soon imported rice from countries whose people we trained. Great, and the other day NFA rationed rice to grade school pupils.
