Rice Against the Crisis
Do visit UPD-USC.net, the official website of the UP Diliman University Student Council (USC). I’ve been working on it the past weeks, as chairperson of the Mass Media Committee. I hope it becomes a venue for the USC to reach out to the students better, and for our constituents to get to know and get in touch with their USC with regards to various issues that they, the UP community, and the nation face.
Below is the USC statement regarding the rice crisis prepared by the University Student Council’s (USC) People’s Struggles Committee under Councilor Fudge Tajar with inputs and reports from other members of the USC.
The University Student Council believes that the present crisis on rice production demands for immediate, sustainable pro-people solutions. The government should immediately increase its support to the National Food Authority (NFA) in its procurement of palay, dismantle the rice cartels and impose a crack down on illegal acts of price manipulation, implement a moratorium on the land-use conversion of agricultural land, and increase its investment in the agricultural sector, all for the benefit our local farmers and the Filipino people.
Tags: agriculture, cartel, IMF-World Bank, land reform, rice crisis, University Student Council, USC statements
It comes to me with slight surprise that there is little talk among students and bloggers with regards to the imminent shortage of rice in the country. I don’t know, perhaps, as a middle class concern, the pursuit of low-carb diets and the shortage of rice go hand-in-hand? Or perhaps since we all apparently have alternative sources of nutrition, rice shortage isn’t really a primary concern? Or because many of us can afford it at 40 pesos a kilo anyway? I don’t really know. But for the common Filipino who remains to be poor, rice is one of the cheapest foods that sustain his daily nutrition, especially for the many work of his (if any) that require intensive manual labor. Just the thought of rice at 40 or 50 pesos per kilo must be really alarming and terrifying. When shall it be alarming for the rest?
