If only it were possible to give up rice, perhaps Filipinos once again grappling with rising prices of the grain would prefer something else to go with their daing or adobo.
Alas, kare-kare, caldereta, and most sauce-y Pinoy dishes are no good without steaming white rice.
It’s not all about taste or eating habits either. Most Filipinos eat a lot of rice because it is filling. A movie starring the comedian Dolphy featured a family sharing a plateful of rice, taking turns sniffing at a piece of salted fish before gobbling down a mouthful of the kanin (cooked rice). It filled their bellies and certainly fired up their imaginations.
In fact, jokes abound about the Pinoy getting by with unli (unlimited) rice, a little soup, or even that fried chicken gravy. It is no laughing matter, however, that many of our kababayans cannot afford a balanced meal containing proper amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and vegetables regularly.
Rice is supposed to be cheap and readily available.
Yet here we are, still on the hunt for the P20 per kilo rice promised during the last State of the Nation Address. We sent someone out to buy that rice, but he came back empty-handed. The cheapest kilo of rice, he said, cost P50.
And news lately of rice prices expected to continue rising until September leaves us wondering — once again — how in the world did the agricultural Philippines end up importing rice in the first place?
Vietnam, which learned rice technology from us, currently pegs the price at “$540 per metric ton, (or) about P30 to P32 per kilo,” said Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. president Danilo Fausto in a dzBB Super Radyo interview, as reported in a news article. This, he added, is higher than its prices at other times of the year, at “$420 to $440, about P23 to P24 per kilo.”
We need to import rice so that the country will have enough supply, he said, suggesting that government should “intervene” and discuss the supply issue with our ASEAN neighbors.
Some sources blame the rise in rice prices on “the effects of price manipulation and price speculation,” pointing a finger at businessmen who use the supply and demand equation to make more profit.
On the other hand, price watchdogs say it’s the government that has failed to keep a tight rein on prices, letting the fluctuations happen because of inaction.
But, perhaps, it is more of slow action that is ailing our government.
The Commission on Audit’s latest report released this month flagged the Department of Agriculture over one, “its failure to distribute a total of 855,493 bags of rice seeds meant for farmers under the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund;” and two, failure “to distribute 2,088 pieces of farm machinery, out of the total 22,520 procured equipment.”
Also, some “14,192 bags of rice seeds were damaged” while the rest were either donated or kept for the next planting season.
Whatever may have caused these incidents, the fact remains that our farmers were “deprived of their needed assistance,” said CoA, and state funds have been likely wasted over damaged goods and equipment rusting in their yards.
A review of the Rice Tariffication Law is once more called for. Better prioritization is also demanded of the agencies concerned tasked to support our farmers and the local production of rice, as well as those tasked to protect consumers from price hikes.
If the world supply is low, we could try to eat less rice and try other alternatives. There’s always a choice of bread or corn, or even the much-derided kamote, to eat with your Iberian roast chicken — but for bangus, bistek, and sinigang — extra rice, please.