Online detractors had ganged up on recent suggestions by a Cabinet official to consider alternatives to rice to take care of the daily meal of Filipinos.
The flak consisted mainly of posts referring to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise of P20-per-kilo rice and his alter ego’s disconnect from the basic needs of Filipinos.
The price of the staple food of Filipinos has shot off the roof while the cost of rice is nowhere near the target level.
Ever attentive to anything that will be detrimental to those in the Palace, the critics pounded on the statement of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, who however was then citing the results of a University of the Philippines study on options to rice.
When the situation calls for it, however, the government should be prepared to introduce programs to make meals nutritious even without rice.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile is a strong advocate for giving the corn a bigger role as food instead of mainly as animal feed.
He warned of being overly dependent on rice and resorting to imports which could become a threat to national security.
Enrile cited the recent decision of India and Vietnam to limit the sale of rice to other countries as a huge concern for the Philippines as it remains dependent on imports.
“We should acknowledge the fact that we are short of area for the production of rice. So what will be our possible remedy? We should consider increasing the production of corn so that it can be made a substitute for rice,” Enrile indicated.
“We may raise the volume of corn for human consumption to substitute for the rice problem,” he added.
He pointed to Cebu as not having a problem with rice supply as a source of carbohydrates.
Corn can be mixed with rice or with sweet potato for a healthy meal even if there is a shortage in the grain or its price has become prohibitive.
“We must not make the people become overly dependent on imported rice. We cannot allow other countries to be the suppliers of essential items for survival. That’s food. We must produce it here,’’ he stressed.
“We will only import the deficit between our supply, our domestic supply, and that which cannot be filled by that supply or the demand of the people,” he said.
Enrile said studies should be conducted on the implementation of the Rice Tarification Law which frees up rice importation by allowing the private sector to undertake it.
According to Enrile, food is the “most basic security item of the country.”
The four-term legislator had advocated investing in research and development to help protect the four million farmers who will be affected by the Rice Tarification Law.
“Because we do not have unlimited available land for rice and corn production, we should allocate adequate public funds for research and development to increase the productivity of our available rice and corn lands,” Enrile said.
Rice remains a political commodity that is proven by the manipulation of the issue by some quarters to drive a wedge between President Marcos and his Cabinet.
Economic officials are thinking out of the box in preparing for a possible crisis with the global inflation shock.
The alternatives presented are practical and workable.