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By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
Government plans to flood the market with basic
commodities in a bid to allay public jitters over soaring world
prices of rice and flour, a Cabinet official said.
Flooding the market with flour and rice and
other goods is a better alternative to declaring a state of
emergency, said Secretary Peter Favila of the Department of Trade
and Industry in a media briefing late Friday.
“This move will appease the consumer public
that indeed there is enough supply of rice and flour—only that,
these are more expensive now,” he said.
“[We] have sufficient supply of rice and
flour,” he added. “There is only a need to improve the
distribution system.”
Favila downplayed China’s decision last week
not to ship 150,000 metric tons of flour to the Philippines, because
the Chinese themselves are seeing high demand for this commodity.
The Philippines has sufficient flour supply for the next three
months, the secretary added.
“The demand for flour is at four million bags
a month, and according to the inventory submitted by the Philippine
Association of Flour Millers, [we] have more than 10 million
bags,” he said. A bag of flour weighs 25 kilograms.
Favila said flour importers have assured him
that by September this year, the price of flour will go down. He
added that the Philippines could import flour from Australia to
replace the forgone allocation from China.
Plus, there are alternative kinds of flour
available locally, such as coconut flour. Favila added that
government is also looking at using squash and cassava as substitute
materials for flour, particularly in making pan de sal.
The alternative flours will be available in
powder form, and Secretary Estrella Alabastro and others at the
Department of Science and Technology are working to ensure that the
nutrient content will not be compromised, Favila said.
He added that the Department of Agriculture
recently tied up with the Department of Social Welfare and
Development in identifying the areas where the poorest of the poor
live. “These people are the ones who gravely need the
government’s help through the National Food Authority, which is
[government’s] service-oriented agency.”
Contributing factors
Overpopulation and climate change are the
contributing factors to the brewing food crisis in the Philippines,
said former Agriculture Secretary and now Sorsogon Rep. Sonny
Escudero at the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo on Saturday.
Back when the Philippine population was just 53
million, the government didn’t have problems satisfying the
demands of its people, Escudero said. But with the population
swelling to 86 million—some say it’s more like 90 million—he
said it will be harder for the Philippines to be self-sufficient in
rice.
Over the long run, government must invest on
agriculture, the congressman said. “Give priority to
agriculture.”
Escudero also emphasized the need for irrigated
lands. Irrigation allows farmers to harvest five times every two
years.
Palace confident
Malacañang is confident that President Arroyo
will remain in power despite the looming crisis, contrary to
speculations that the food-price increases could lead to her removal
from office.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol
said the President is not like Haiti Prime Minister Jacques Edouard
Alexis, who was ousted because of his failure to address the food
crisis in his country. Alexis was removed from office Saturday for
failing to boost food production and his refusal to set a timetable
for the departure of UN peacekeepers from Haiti.
“We don’t have a food shortage,” Apostol
said. “So, no comparison; that will not happen to us because our
government officials from the President down to the Cabinet are
working hard to find a solution.”
Government has been adopting measures to boost
the country’s food supply, particularly rice, and ensuring that
the government-subsidized grain remains affordable and is directly
delivered to the people, he said.
Declaring a state of emergency remains unlikely
because it’s not necessary at this time, he said. “There is no
reason yet for that,” Apostol said.
The President’s critics warned that the plan
to increase the selling price of rice sold by the National Food
Authority could trigger protests and threaten her presidency.
They described the plan as “the last straw
that would lead to the ouster” of President Arroyo.
-- With Maiden Bernaldez and Angelo S. Samonte
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