Rice is a staple food in the Philippines. We cannot have a complete meal if we don’t have rice set on our tables. But just recently, the Philippines is suffering from rice crisis. I couldn’t feel such crisis until I saw the price of a kilo of rice goes higher and higher. News on TV shows a lot of people lining up just to get cheaper rice from the National Food Authority. They were to line up, have priority number cards and sometimes get arguments of who’s next in line. I was so sad when I heard that there’s one old man died due to heat stroke as he waited for his turn to buy the cheap rice. Until now, there are a lot of sad stories for people who are trying to purchase rice in the market. One story that struck me most was the story I saw on TV. There were certain women who would try to give their bodies in exchange for two kilos of rice, worth about 70 pesos (approximately less than $2). I was so sad about it… very, very disappointed.
According to some politicians, rice crisis is due to “corruption”. Might be true… The government keeps on updating us that there is no rice shortage, but I guess there’s no truth on these words. With all these stories heard from a lot of people who are mostly affected with the crisis, these are enough evidences that there is really shortage.
I remember one pregnant woman I talked to… she said it’s already her due but the baby is still not coming out. That is why she went to her doctor and asked what the reason was. Her doctor made a funny answer… “Maybe your baby is afraid to come out because the price of rice is so expensive already’… I believe the doctor was just joking… but I hope the government will not make joke on this issue.
Let’s continue to pray for our country!
Very sad..my heart is melting…everytime, I read news about our country I’ve always felt sad..not only in our country but in some other countries too…so sad….but God knows best…!
Gie,i just wanna make it clear on our side in the government that there is only 90% sufficiency in rice production so there is a need to import the 10% balance and we already have it in our country thus, no shortage. “There is no rice crisis but Rice Price Crisis”. We are exerting all efforts to increase the local harvest in order to meet the demand of the staple food.