Thursday, June 19, 2008 Wenceslao: Lining up for rice By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
EVERY day since I spent time accompanying my son to school early in the morning, I see this long line of people in front of a corner store near our neighborhood and in another store near our town’s market place. This sight, of course, is not limited to the milieu I am in but everywhere in Cebu and the country. It has become a phenomenon.
Wherever cheap National food Authority (NFA) rice is sold, there too go people looking for ways to survive the economic pinch. This is no longer about a rice shortage, or government (through Secretary Cerge M. Remonde) would not have announced its intention to “flood” Cebu with cheap rice. Rather, it’s about making both ends meet.
The price per kilo for NFA rice, at least for the one sold in the store near the town market, is P25. Compare that with the P40 plus per kilo of commercial rice. But for all the trouble and sacrifices each person went through in lining up, he/she only got to buy one kilo of rice yesterday, or at least that was what they told me. Still they lined up.
It would be interesting to find out if government will make good its promise to “flood” the country with NFA rice and help pull down the price of commercial rice. But like everything else in this country (gasoline, fare, etc.), when prices go up there is no chance these will go down to the original level again. So the “lining up” will continue.
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Two major developments happened in less than 12 hours starting the other midnight: ABS-CBN broadcaster Ces Drilon and her companions were released by their abductors and the Boston Celtics “massacred” the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 to grab this year’s NBA crown. I will have to leave the celebration to the Celtics fans for now.
Initial video footages of the release showed a haggard Drilon smile to reporters as she was lead to a vehicle. There was an instance when she almost broke down in tears. The psychological wound inflicted by her abductors will take time to heal. I just hope she will heed the advice of her relatives to take some time off and spend it with her family.
Hopefully, too, media people will learn something from this sorry episode and won’t forget these lessons in preparing for future coverages. GMA 7 reporter Susan Enriquez, herself a victim of abduction in the past, said in a recent interview that no story is as valuable as your life, or words to that effect. I will have to say amen to that.
