By Danilo P. Padua, PhD

There is an impending declaration of a food security emergency! And that is only for rice. Definitely, we have more than enough supply of rice at the moment-both locally-produced and imported (or smuggled). Yet, we are talking about an emergency.
What a response to something that is not even remotely close to an emergency situation!
President BBM noted that, “We have done everything to bring down the price of rice but the market has not been allowed to work properly.” In short, the market demand and supply principle does not operate! Ergo, the National Price and Coordinating Council is advocating for the emergency declaration. Once all members have signed an agreed resolution, the food security emergency will be declared accordingly.
Even in Congress, they often talk of giving an emergency power to the president to solve some problems that are getting out of hand. Seems emergency power is our convenient or main weapon against national “problem” that arises. This gives us an idea what kind of laws are being churned out by our Congress. Many of such laws are myopic, designed for today without a glimpse of tomorrow. They are devoid largely of futuristic, longer term of application.
The current rice supply situation is really not a case of emergency. It is a scenario reeking with a repulsive odor, like a newly-bloomed corpse flower that is attracting, at this moment, legions in an Australian botanical garden.
Rice importation tariffs were cut purposely to bring down rice prices that never materialized. Huge imports arrived but not even a one-peso slice of price per kilogram happened. The selfish interest of a few, meaning rich people, manipulating things so they can get what they want was the order of the day. Agencies or concerned authorities could be remiss in their duties! Or maybe they are an unwilling party to the brouhaha? Am not sure of that.
Obviously, there is an inadequate law for a clearer and better implementation of the tariff cuts that is supposed to benefit the rice consumers or the general public. Imagine, there are the accredited importers with their import quota, they have their respective bodegas. That means, it is easy to monitor things. Apparently, that was not done. Because we are so enamored with emergency, and maybe concerned authorities are just following instructions from elsewhere, the less problematic way out was laid out: declare an emergency situation even when it is not.
There are too many influencers, big fishes to satisfy!
The DA is now mulling to impose a fine of one million pesos for violators of the PhP58.00/kg price cap that they have instituted for the imported rice. By all intent and purposes, the target of this are the poor retailers because you can not impose that on the importers and the distributors. Imposing such fine therefore is tantamount to forcing the retailers to do the work for them, which they might do if only for them to continue earning their living.
Will the case of corn, or sugar follow suit? And what about sub-tropical vegetables that are produced mainly in Benguet and other parts of Cordillera? These vegetables are likely to be again in the limelight as related to agri-smuggling given the propensity of a big neighbor to sow fear, intrigue, instability and division among us, Filipinos.
Such possibility might be pre-empted though by the DA’s current plan to finally construct a cold storage facility for such vegetables.
Some people I come across with in the Baguio-La Trinidad area are now blaming President BBM for the increased prices of everything! May the big fishes “moderate their greed” so the situation will not worsen.
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