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 "Kan-on: Political Commodity
by Jenny Lind Elmaco E-MAIL jenny.elmaco@yahoo.com
Rice
is somethingm yoou dseei otny every Filipino table. My
friends shake at me with disbelief every time I have it with
my main dish – especially for breakfast. Rice for us is life.
It is as indispensable as air. And now we are desperately
looking for it. It seems that all of a sudden we do not have
enough. What happened? Some people argue that it is
not an isolated case. After all, there is a rice shortage in Bangladesh and China too.
In Pakistan, the price of rice
has gone up over the past
month by more than 60 per
cent year on year. Of course,
the causes of the shortages
and high prices are diverse.
You have drastic weather
changes and natural disasters.
Then there is high fuel
prices, which add to transport
costs. Add smuggling
and electricity problems
there too.
Yet the bigger tragedy is how
the rice shortage will affect the ordinary
Filipino. According to the
National Statistics Office, of the 90
million Filipinos, 68 million live on
100 pesos a day. If the price of rice
continues to soar, then Mang
Pedro and his family will not be
able to have Kan-on on their table.
The government has suggested
substituting pan de sal
with rice. Even going through great lengths as
to convince fastfood outlets to
only give half a portion of rice
to prevent waste. But this does
not solve the problem. Still they
are trying to fix it ASAP. Rice,
after all, is a political commodity.
The outcome of the government’s
handling of the crises
will spell its fate.
Much as we welcome these
efforts only time will tell if they will
be enough to offset our dilemma.
But we are only treating the symptoms.
The disease still remains.
Unless and until we get to the heart
of corrupt practices in government,
we will always be in a crisis. This
might just be a preview of bigger
problems to come. The government
should however treat this as
a warning. There is no angrier person
than a hungry person. Maybe
for now Mang Pedro will just be
contented bisag bahaw na lang or
opt for the pan de sal because he
can no longer afford to buy a kilo.
But time will come when he will not
settle for anything less than fresh,
hot rice straight from the caldero.
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