USAPING MIGRANTE: The Rise of the Rice Crisis

USAPING MIGRANTE: The Rise of the Rice Crisis

One day when I was in the grocery store just across the street from our apartment building, while waiting in line to pay for two bags of rice, a grey-haired old lady asked me: “What’s that?” “Rice,” I replied. Then she mused and said: “You use that a lot?” I politely answered: “Yes. I’m a Filipino. I eat rice three times a day.” The lady was a bit puzzled: “Is that good for you?” But before I could reply, the young cashier in front of us cut the lady off, gave me a nice glance and said: “Yes, that’s good for you, that’s delicious.” In a moment, I realized how important rice is for me. In a moment, I realized how important rice is for Filipinos. But when I looked at the bags of rice, I noticed they were not products of the Philippines.

That was the first time thoughts of “rice crisis” came up to my mind. The encounter happened during the week when the news first broke out. Of course rice is good for me and us, and this is the staple of over 90 million Filipinos. But I wouldn’t talk here about nutritional value of rice. I’m more interested in the national value (or lack of it) of rice. Especially now that the crisis at home is taking its toll on Filipino migrants around the world.

Last week, Perry Sorio of AWARE-GABAY, informed me that a reporter from the Globe and Mail was looking for immigrants to be interviewed for the news story that he was working on regarding the rice crisis in the Philippines. I told Perry maybe I could share with the reporter some thoughts as backgrounder on the issue.

Following are parts of the letter I sent to the reporter. “My mother still lives in the Philippines. She stays in my sister’s apartment. She’s retired and has no daily income aside from a meager quarterly pension. Sometimes I send her some amount of money. Lately she told me if I could add some extra amount because of soaring price of rice and other basic commodities such as cooking gas, cooking oil, bread and more.

“I understand two months ago the price of rice was only 20 pesos per kilo, now it skyrocketed to 40 pesos per kilo. Obviously, the impact on me of these soaring prices is adjusting the budget for my own family here. My wife and I are basically relying on a monthly average amount I’m earning as intern in a public institution.”

“If this crisis has impact on me, who only has my mother back home to support, how about those fellow Filipino migrants who have the whole family back home to take care of, by sending money on a monthly basis? I certainly could imagine the big impact of this rice crisis on compatriots who work under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). [The Philippine economy is virtually dependent on remittances from its workers abroad with a yearly average of US$14 billions a year.]

“I know one caregiver who worries seriously about this rice price problem. She worries about herself and her four kids back home. She worries about herself because she’s working almost 7 days a week just to earn [$10 per hour] enough money to send to her family. She worries the month of June is fast approaching. This means time for paying tuition fees is coming. She worries about her kids because she might ask one of them to stop going to school for now.”

“Meanwhile, my wife Elsie who is now in the Philippines, together with our daughter Malaya, visiting her sick father could not believe the big change that’s happening in the country. According to her, even the price of pandesal [favourite bread for breakfast] is getting higher now at 3 pesos per piece compared to 1.5 pesos last year.

“That the Philippines is in rice crisis, to me, is a great irony. In the 1980s, the Philippines had no problem with rice supply. It was self-sufficient then. But what a twist of reality: the Philippines is now one of the biggest rice importers in the world! So what has happened?”

“My home country is primarily an agricultural nation. It’s abundant with land that can be used for farming. And it is home to International Rice Research Institute, perhaps the best in the world, where people from neighbouring Asian regions go to learn more about efficient ways of planting rice. It was in IRRI that the so-called “miracle rice” was discovered. Yet the Philippines is becoming subprime in terms of rice production.

“I believe the rice crisis should not have happened, and thus it should not have great impact on millions of Filipino people, if the Philippine government has done a better job in establishing food security programs. This crisis can be attributed to failed government agrarian program, lack of concern to farmers, focus on imports or trade liberalization, agricultural land conversion [to industrial use], and the inability of the government to implement programs that promote food sufficiency. I believe this is the context of the whole problem.”

Meanwhile in the U.S., Wal Mart’s Sam’s Club has started to limit the selling of rice to their customers. What can I say? Well, maybe it’s just a matter of time for it to hit Canada. Meanwhile in Manila, as I write this, the news is about the plan of the Philippine government to give P5 billion-aid to families living under the poverty line, of which each family will receive up to P1,400 monthly.

In a news report, Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila, calls the plan “anti-poor, gives the poor no dignity, and only breeds dependency.” I call it dole-out mentality. Like “rice access cards,” the dole-out plan is part of the “sporadic solutions” of the government. What they need to do is plan a long-term solution to a long-term problem. There’s one simple solution to the problem of rice shortage, according to Rep. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, to plant more palay. True, indeed. That’s why he’s pushing for genuine agrarian reform program. Ah, I hope to see in the future those bags of rice in Canadian grocery stores carry the mark “Product of the Philippines.”