Killing us softly with rice

By Ermin F. Garcia Jr.

The utter lack of transparency and candor on the part of the Arroyo government is again noted in the latest “rice crisis”.

The longer it waffles on the issue, the more suspicious the public becomes. Worse, as it gingerly avoids creating images of neglect and manipulation with its unwarranted flip-flopping on alibis, images of another massive cover-up conjure in people’s minds.

Curiously, while Malacañang is being pictured as a busy bee responding to the “rice crisis”, the regional office of the Department of Agriculture here is boasting there is and there will be no rice crisis in the region, particularly in Pangasinan.

But then again, the DA’s regional office does not offer any explanation for the sudden increases

in retail prices, the root of the problem, given what it claims to be ample supply of rice.

***

Agri Sec. Arthur Yap, a half- Dagupeño, insisted there is no rice shortage. To prove his point, he cited the absence of long queues at rice retail stores for their share of the staple. Invoking the universal law of supply and demand, the absence of such queues is enough indication that there is no shortage, so he says.

He’s right under normal circumstances but the factors are unusual. We are met with high prices with no felt stronger demand for an ample supply.  Hence, the universal economic rule is hardly applicable in this case.

Thus, instead of shoring confidence in the supply, what in, fact, the absence of long queues points to is the fact that more people are simply not buying their usual supply of rice because the prices have become prohibitive, particularly for the great  majority living below poverty line.

It simply points to the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. The bottom line simply is that the economy is not working for the majority of the Filipinos, and this is a fact that is totally unacceptable to the Arroyo government!

***

Then the “haves” had a good laugh when Sec. Yap again asked Pinoys to eat less rice to help alleviate the situation. But the “have-nots” thought it was a bad joke. They have not been eating enough for the longest time, period. Government has made it difficult even for the rank and file employees (the lucky ones) to survive on their meager incomes. For the destitute, they could only beg for left-overs from restaurants and affluent homes.

Then came the appeal to all restaurants and fast food outlets to serve less rice to their customers!  Gee, the only people who eat less rice anytime are those who do it for healthy lifestyle. On the other hand, those who are struggling to survive can only hope to eat more rice with little or no viand to go with, now that instant noodles are beyond their means.

Either Sec. Yap has already began to panic, careful not to point at the price manipulators known to the Palace or he has it all wrong on the Pinoy’s true economy. He fails to understand that the accurate data can only come from the Pinoy’s stomach no less. 

***

Now comes President Arroyo herself making a “gallant” stand against the villainous rice hoarders.

While we are inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt that she knows whence she speaks, that there is no real rice shortage, that the hoarders and the smugglers are the culprits, there is one problem with her spiel.  It’s a contradiction of Mr. Yap’s contention that there is no shortage at anytime, whether real or artificial. So why is she training her guns on suspected hoarders?

Even if one applies the law on supply and demand this time, what businessmen would find it opportune to hoard and raise prices where there is reportedly ample supply in the market as Mr. Yap wants us to believe? 

There is an ugly true story behind all these unusual uncoordinated “dance-and-song” numbers that they are out to keep under wraps. Shades of the ZTE-NBN contract.   

What  this all  boils  down to for us in the province, whatever the claim  is, we are already being made to pay a high price for either the price of government neglect and abuses or the insatiable greed of  “biggies” who want to celebrate Christmas in summer. A  bumper harvest in the province today or tomorrow will not matter or bring any relief to us.

I strongly suspect both scenarios are the subject of another cover-up, so I will not be surprised if we see Sec. Yap invoking executive privilege one day to refuse answering nasty questions about the “rice crisis”.

(Readers may reach columnist at punch.sunday@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/
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