Monday, August 06, 2007 Ledesma: Drought and politics By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
THE SCORCHING heat of the sun has dried up thousands of hectares of what used to be vast and productive rice fields in Luzon. As though this is not enough, the dams from where Metro Manila sources its water, are running low with water reserve.
Neither rain nor typhoons are in sight. Any day now, water will be rationed and electric power is expected to conk out. Many industries, businesses and services, which rely heavily on electricity, might be declaring forced holidays.
If the dry spell will continue for 30 more days there will be famine in the farmers’ lands and many will have to run to the murky waters in the Laguna Lake to quench their thirst. Assuming they have not yet.
With this specter looming in Luzon and Metro Manila, the politicians are not keen on addressing the possible dilemma and other complexities that this calamitous weather condition that hit the region.
The opposition rabidly attacks the plan of President Arroyo to ask Congress for standby emergency powers. Despite the depleted water in the dams and the sun-baked rice fields that are incessantly shown on TV, many senators and congressmen find no reason for standby powers for the President.
One of them with an air of grandiose stupidity explains that GMA might just duplicate what former President Fidel Ramos did when, in his rush to address the energy crises brought about by the incompetence of the Cory administration, signed contracts with independent power suppliers which later was blamed for the high cost of electricity.
It is so easy to find fault. Yet, in those times when Metro Manila suffered long hours of darkness and the elite, which include the senators, started to feel the discomfort of not having their air-conditioners running, they quickly gave Ramos the emergency power.
For as long as famine has not reached the doorsteps of the Senate and the Makati elite, for as long as their privately owned generators keep their air-conditioners running, the thick-hide politicians would not care what will happen to the farmers in Luzon.
Senate President Manny Villar tells us that GMA does not need emergency powers for there are billions of pesos available in the Department of Agriculture to spend.
In raising that issue, he even hinted that maybe the budget for agriculture was again misused. What he is not telling us is that that budget is earmarked for various applications. Touching that which had been allocated for specific programs will mess up the DA's program and will complicate the problem the more.
Villar's concept is simplistic and again it partakes of a foolish populist solution. Makes him popular but his suggestion is ridiculous.
It's nothing different from the dim-witted remarks of party list Rep. Teddy Casiño who says GMA does not need emergency powers anymore because her son and brother-in-law are chairmen of powerful committees in Congress.
The statement is way off the mark but good copy for the media and therefore makes him very popular. But it's actually irrelevant to the problems on hand.
Our lawmakers should heed DA Sec. Arthur Yap's explanation that he cannot touch what has been budgeted for various agricultural programs. With emergency powers granted the president, she might be able to source out unallocated funds.
If he has his way, Yap wants to buy water pumps for the farmers to shift to other cash crops that need less water to grow. He wants to rehabilitate dried-up irrigation canals for it will cost less this time to do so and to prepare these for the next planting season when the rains will finally come.
He wants to put additional resources in Visayas and Mindanao so that the farmers will be able to expand arable areas for rice and corn. He wants to buy and distribute rice varieties that can grow luxuriantly in both dry and wet lands.
In short, Secretary Yap wants to help farmers in their present predicament. The problems are real and the farmers in Luzon have to survive. They are not like the senators and congressmen who have millions from their pork barrel, millions of pesos in allowances from chairmanship and membership of committees, millions from grease money from lobbyists, millions from government appointees who need the imprimatur of insatiable members of the Commission on Appointments. And more.
They do not worry about water, they do not worry about drought, they do not worry about farmers not being able to plant. For they can buy anything that they will run short of.
Prayer is good, but I think God will be happier if our politicians and the religious will show diligence and genuine concern for the plight of the poor.
Let us not leave everything to God. We might earn his ire and let this long dry spell last until the politicians and the Makati elite will humble themselves with their knees bended.
