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OIL started as a political commodity in the 1973
Middle East War when it was used as weapon of war. But rice, the
staple food of the Philippines, has been a hot political issue even
before that, determining the stability of our administrations and
the fate of presidential candidates.
Obviously, we cannot divorce rice
from politics. I remember that in the 60’s, there was a Black
Saturday, a description by the media of the day when the markets all
over the country did not sell rice at all. This became an election
issue at that time.
Looking at the present situation,
I think the rice problem described in the media is not that serious.
We don’t see any queue in the markets. During that Black Saturday
in the mid-sixties, there were long lines in the markets fomenting
chaos in front of what was then the Rice and Corn Administration.
(RCA was then the NFA.) So long as there is rice in the
market—even if the price is higher—there is still no crisis.
The technocrats tell us there are
two ways to solve the problem of rice supply—production and
importation. To insure supply, the Department of Agriculture expects
to surpass last year’s record of 16.24 million metric tons of rice
production with a target of 17.32 million MT of rice yields in 2008.
The department’s Bureau of
Agricultural Statistics has also projected that local farmers will
harvest some 7.1 million MT during the April-June dry season alone.
This is higher than the 6.7 million tons harvested during the same
period last year.
On importation, the government
has already secured commitments from Vietnam, the United States and
elsewhere of up to 2.7 million MT of imports to guarantee enough
supply during the July-September lean months.
The department has signed an
agreement enabling the government to import up to 1.5 million MT of
white rice from Vietnam. The US Department of Agriculture increased
the Philippines’ share of its GSM-102 credit commodity program to
$75 million, which will pave the way to an additional 100,000 MT of
US rice. These commitments are on top of the contracted imports by
the NFA totaling 1.2 million MT.
For our country, it is hard to
envision rice self-sufficiency. We don’t have the big rivers that
Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar possess. All we have are islands that
lose water in a few days after a big rain. So, the task of our
government is to insure supply through forward planning in
production and importation.
DENR protects rivers
Fact: Of the country’s 421
major rivers and 20 river basins, 50 are almost totally degraded and
the rest are affected by partial degradation due to man’s neglect.
Environment and Natural Resources
Secretary Lito Atienza presented this gloomy scenario on the state
of our water bodies during the Forum on the Philippine Rivers at the
department in Diliman, Quezon City. He urged everyone to work
together in cleaning up all rivers, lakes, streams and all areas
where water freely flows.
“We have to work together and
do something in order to benefit from our bodies of water to attract
development that is sustainable for our economy and our future,”
Atienza said.
During the forum, the DENR and
the ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc./Bantay Kalikasan, represented by its
managing director Regina Paz L. Lopez, signed a memorandum of
understanding for the rehabilitation and development of all river
basins with initial focus on the Metro Manila River Basin which
includes the Manila Bay, Laguna Lake and Pasig River.
Senate asserts its rights
I think that the Senate should
continue to hold its hearings on various issues, in accordance with
established procedures. It should not be confused by the recent
decision of the Supreme Court on the handling of executive
privilege. If it takes a defeatist attitude, then the Senate as an
institution is finished.
The attitude of Sen. Chiz
Escudero is correct. Even as he publicly disagrees with the Palace
on the proper interpretation of the SC decision, he will continue
with the hearings. At a proper time, he would convene the Committees
on Justice and Human Rights and the Ways and Means.
The Senate should take the SC
decision positively. I think it was not intended to curtail the
Senate, specially its oversight functions. What the SC aimed to
check was the abuse of a few senators to use the Senate hearings for
vituperation and grandstanding. Some senators were already trying
to violate the rights of witnesses, according to Sen.Joker Arroyo.
jules42na@yahoo.com
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