Since news of the shortage of NFA rice —meaning the edible and affordable variety, a good number of which were in the process of being unloaded in various ports across the country—got even grimmer with reports of weevil infestation in certain areas, exacerbated by bad weather, everybody got into the wave and started asking: “What’s happening?” These questions came with prescriptions galore on how to avert a “looming food crisis” as some sectors call it.
Well, at least the country is finally getting focused not only on the basic staple, rice, but on the state of our agricultural sector. For years on end, this has hardly been a sexy topic for decision makers in both public and private sectors for reasons which we will discuss in future columns. In the meantime, since we are focused on rice and soaring prices, the response of the Liberal Party is particularly worth looking into.
So, what has the party led by VP Leni Robredo and her allies in Congress offered to ease the rising prices of basic commodities, principally rice, in their first ever press conference on any matter of significance to ordinary citizens like you and me? Nothing new. Just the tired, old solutions wrapped with the usual criticism of the administration’s lack of foresight and competence.
Joined by LP President Francis Pangilinan and other party leaders, Robredo presented a number of options to address the “rice crisis” and the rising prices of basic commodities in this wise:
First, fire NFA Administrator Jason Aquino whom they identified as the “root of the rice crisis” (wow).
Second, overhaul the NFA leadership (was she thinking of the entire NFA Council which has been at odds with Aquino to the point of blocking his earlier efforts to import rice to augment that agency’s buffer? Or only those who blocked his scheme or those who allowed the use of NFA funds to pay off debt with the government banks instead of using the same to buy rice for stocking or all of the above?).
Third, create a task force comprised of Cabinet members to address the rice emergency.
Fourth, suspend the higher excise tax on fuel.
Fifth, expand social protection measures and the scope of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Sixth, certify as urgent and move for the passing of the “Bawas Presyo” bill filed by LP Representatives Quimbo, Banal and Belmonte which seeks the return to zero of the excise taxes on kerosene and diesel.
Basically, the LP scheme consists of two parts: Fire Aquino, reform NFA’s policies on buffer stocking and rice importation by creating a task force composed of Cabinet members to oversee the work (will these people have any time just to even organize themselves?) and slow down implementation of the TRAIN Law by suspending the excise tax on fuel. That is, presumably until the passage of the “Bawas Presyo” bill that seeks to suspend if not scrap altogether the increased tax on fuel, in particular kerosene and diesel.
Well and good. The problem is these are the same tired, old and ultimately unresponsive solutions to the kind of problem we are presently facing. Yes, there may be a need to finally put an end to the open war between the NFA Council and Administrator Aquino which has contributed to the deadlocks, delays in buying rice locally and importation.
But to suggest that Aquino alone was presiding over the incompetence and corruption at the NFA and that he is the root cause of the rice crisis as suggested by a leading light of the opposition is to over simplify the issue.It is as if it Aquino’s removal will cast a spell and presto! Rice will then flood the markets all the way to Tawi-Tawi.
It reminds us of the knee-jerk reactions in administrations past, especially those associated with the current LP leadership. Unresponsive and hypocritical. It only reinforces the view that these guys continue to live in a lie. What are they sniffing, anyway? It is a tired response, as tired a solution as can be thought of, and is guaranteed not to put even a grain of rice on our tables in this critical week or two of the contrived crisis we are going through which the Liberal Party hopes can be the tipping point’ in their bid to shove President Duterte before his term ends. The sooner, the better.
Well, I am sorry to say that it will take more than that to hijack the Chief Executive’s term.
But for now, that call for Aquino’s head and overhaul of the NFA leadership can stay and possibly activated only after the situation stabilizes and rice that is eatable and affordable is already in place. Until such a time, maybe up to the end of October, hopefully earlier, we should get Aquino and the NFA Council with Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol to get together and do what needs to be done to hold the line.
They can start by coming together “in peace” and issuing a list of companies and persons whose warehouses are awash with rice but continue to withhold the same for whatever reason(s)—OK, let us just agree that these “bodegeros” are into hoarding and profiteering. This kind of behavior has to stop and now. As President Duterte said there is really rice in those warehouses but greed has set in. It will take a “tokhang-on-rice hoarders” task force, not the Pangilinan contrivance to put the fear of the Almighty on these people and their allies in government.
Then, with the release of those supplies to be paid and funded by a special window from the DBM and the government banks, they can secure more imports for immediate delivery. After things calm down, then the call for a total revamp of the NFA leadership, possibly even the ouster of Aquino if justified, can be revisited. But the problem of rice supply and pricing does not end there.
As former NFA Administrator and now Meco president Lito Banayo said, we have to go back to our commitments under the World Trade Organization which essentially frames the manner by which NFA can import and operate. As Banayo noted, we are now the only WTO member country still under a quantitative restrictions regime which means we can restrict the amount of rice allowed to be imported into the country.
That volume is determined by the NFA Council upon advice of the administrator. As it turned out, the tug of war between the NFA Council and Aquino prevented us from importing rice much, much earlier as the volume and other issues such as who will import, government or private, and under what conditions remained unanswered until May or June this year. Not enough time to avert an anticipated shortage. That continuing tug-of-war will probably be resolved soon with the rice tariffication scheme and with it whether the NFA as we know it today will survive. But again even with that, the problem of supply and pricing does not end there.
We should take a serious look at how we have been handling our agricultural sector, especially that sub-sector dealing with rice and corn production.We do not need additional laws or even hearings to come out with a sustained, responsive and comprehensive plan. We only need to dust up and update all the studies which have been in place for years. Reinvention of this very critical sector will definitely require wise and proper orchestration of such critical components as land use, irrigation and related infrastructure, seeds, funding support, mechanization, post harvest facilities, price support, education and training of a new breed of farmers, new technology, etc. etc.
The Liberal Party and its leaders, especially Senator Pangilinan who was the Presidential Adviser of Food Security and Modernization under the past administration, are well aware of these things. In fact, there was a well-orchestrated drive for self-sufficiency in rice and corn not too long ago under PNoy complete with annual budgetary allocations for six years. It was a pity we did not even hear a word about this program and how the billions of pesos in funding support was spent from Vice President Robredo and her allies in that press conference. Anyway, we will deal with that in our future columns.
As for the second leg of the LP response to our current problem—suspension of the TRAIN Law particularly the excise tax on fuel (kerosene and diesel) we can only suggest that the group take a look at the transcripts of the proceedings in the congressional hearings on the subject specially the submissions of the agencies comprising the Cabinet economic cluster and the testimonies of the experts including those who opposed some provisions or even the entire original submitted bill. I hope that after reading, they would realize that suspension may only create more problems than offer solutions. And yes, if they are not satisfied with the earlier submissions, they can probably ask their colleague, Marikina Rep. and former Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo, why all of a sudden he is reversing himself on this issue. That’s all for now.