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I grew up with Ironman. Did you? I hear a local film producer is
coming up with a Filipino version. The title is: Riceman.
Don’t laugh now because no matter how we twist
and turn, the specter of rising prices surrounds us. Even as we
sleep, the Meralco meter keeps running and the Manila Water one
keeps turning. Listed corporations recently announced their results
with hefty double-digit profit increases. All is well with the big
guys and better yet. If only the poor remain the same and inherit
the earth.
Ironman as an action hero is a strange type.
Tony Clark, the man behind the iron mask, always struggles with his
suit with battery running low and malfunctions here and there. He is
not the Superman we are used to with supernatural abilities. This
explains his unique popularity in that we can relate more to him as
a human fraught with weaknesses.
The hero theme resonates throughout the globe
from the developed countries with material blessings to developing
ones like ours with only spiritual blessings. Our search for heroes
continues and we turn to the likes of Ironman to solve our rice
problems.
The good thing if it may be said so, is that the
rice issue has focused our energies and resources instead of
complaining and critiquing all the time. At least the people can’t
blame solely the administration for the rice problem is a worldwide
phenomenon. The United Nations formed a task force specifically for
this purpose.
It still kills me to know that our country is
the world’s number one importer of rice what with our great
Central Luzon plains and the land of promise, Mindanao. Except that
Central Luzon used to be the hotbed of militancy, that in the reform
era, turned to become the centerpiece of land reform while Mindanao
remains to be perceived as the land of extremists, terrorists and
separatists. Heck, diplomats can’t even set foot on a Mindanao
airport unless you are the US ambassador, toasting in the MILF camp.
We are geographically challenged because our
islands are many and scattered and make for poor farming, unlike
Thailand and Vietnam to whom we imparted IRRI technology. But is
Indonesia not in the same boat and, worse, with more than twice our
people? They should be the number one importer.
Talk about Asean community and the formation of
a rice cartel – the Organization of Rice Exporting Countries or
OREC. The Philippines of course will be in OREC. It is well and
sunny to wear nice barongs and colorful batiks for Asean heads of
state to pose for posterity’s stake. It is a totally different
matter when it comes to baht, dongs, pesos and dollars. I guess
friendship can only get this far. People and nations behave the same
way. Love thy neighbor.
Now our target for rice-sufficiency is pushed
back to 2011 from the original 2008. Is the solution to eat less
rice and the carbohydrates that make us fat? To those who have other
sources of energy (read: money), they go for healthier alternatives.
For the rest with our cultural habit, rice is the only way. Our
history is the history of rice and one of our UNESCO heritage sites
is dedicated to rice-planting. Remember the song.
And then rice hoarding. If we are to file cases,
then the biggest offender is the National Food Authority with its
monopolistic charter. I mean, is there a bigger hoarder?
Ironman, rice fortified with iron. Riceman,
people of the rice. A nation in search of heroes and solutions,
heroes to solve our problems and heroes to take the fall. Ironman is
a good movie because the man is a good man. He rises above his
shortcomings and seizes opportunities. Unfortunately, we are not a
film.
mabinihall@gmail.com
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