Marie Antoinette’s infamous and insensitive “let them eat cake” statement when the people were starving started the French Revolution.
Keeping this historic lesson in mind, President Rodrigo Duterte is exerting all the vast powers of his presidency to head off a social upheaval. For starters, Duterte served notice he might abolish the National Food Authority for mishandling the rice supply situation. Supply of the cheaper NFA rice is nearing zero level despite importation from Vietnam and Thailand.
Scrapping the NFA would need congressional concurrence. But that should not be a problem considering the supermajority in the House under the administration’s control.
There is a strong suspicion that commercial rice traders created an artificial shortage to drive up prices not affordable to the masses. Is there complicity between NFA officials and commercial rice traders? The possibility of such collusion was raised by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco himself. The NFA denied such speculation and has made known it is willing to submit to an audit to show receipts where its rice stock went.
The fallout of the rice crisis could take its toll not only on NFA officials losing their jobs but could reach all the way to Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol. The NFA is under Piñol’s department and it is tasked to spur rice production from Day One when the Duterte administration assumed all the responsibilities and problems besetting the nation.
Digong is in a firing mood and Pinol could go the way of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
Boracay closure
The government will close down the world-renowned Boracay Island resort for six months starting April 26. The temporary lockdown is to clean-up the beach and waters from deteriorating into a cesspool. It will mean the loss of income for the people whose livelihood depends on the revenues generated from foreign and local tourists. Restaurants, hotels and budget inns on the island will be the most affected. Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific will also suspend some of its flights to Caticlan and Kalibo.
While the government is at it, the Departments of Transportation and Tourism might as well put up a more modern water transportation from the Caticlan airport to Boracay instead of the medieval and decrepit motorized boats being used to ferry beachgoers.
The reason for Aguirre’s relief according to Palace sources was his inability to move forward the administration’s priority cases against drug traffickers and erring local government officials.
On another front, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is going to Kuwait to sign the bilateral Memorandum of Agreement protecting Filipino workers from being abused by their employers. This, even as 100 more undocumented OFWs returned home yesterday under an amnesty granted by the Gulf State.
Meanwhile, President Duterte served notice his government is giving peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines one last chance to settle the decades-long insurgency problem. While communism in the Philippines is the longest running movement in the world, it is in reality close to being irrelevant. The ones keeping it alive is the cabal of Jose Ma. Sison, the Agcaoilis and the Ledesmas in Utrecht, Netherlands.
Funding for the CCP and its armed wing the New People’s Army is getting more difficult. China and Russia have long converted to a capitalist economy. Their communist form of government is maintained only to continue repressive regimes to control the people. Both Beijing and Moscow are also now close to the Duterte government. To continue its rebellion against the government, the NPA carries out kidnapping and extortion against businesses in rural areas.
Our thoughts on the matter: Joma and company should seriously consider Duterte’s offer to talk peace. Not to do so would leave the government no choice but to permanently end the on-and-off talks. This can only make Sison and his exile group irrelevant.
A few more years, and there will be Filipinos who will ask: “Joma who?”