Let them eat cassava cake?
Posted on March 21, 2008 - Filed Under History, Governance
In the days leading up to the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the Queen Consort of Louis XVI, was supposed to have said, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!” (Let them eat cake!) after she was informed that the French masa (pan intended) had no more bread to eat.
Some historians are unsure if Marie Antoinette actually uttered those words but, to cut a long story about an unmercifully shortened reign, the French revolutionaries guillotined the much-disliked royal in 1793.
Death by guillotine is a thing of the past but one hopes that Pres. Gloria Arroyo and the people around her would have a better sense of history. Why? For one thing, Pres. Arroyo and Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap have been less than forthright in assuring the public that there is no rice shortage, insisting that the country has “stable” rice inventories.
The current rice shortage is nothing new for the Philippines because a succession of administrations in recent memory have . . . by their half-hearted efforts to boost local output . . . invariably created annual production shortfalls with one apparently common goal: To justify subsequent imports that bring billions of pesos in kickbacks.
This time around, however, the importation part of the oft-recycled best case scenario will not play out without a hitch in the face of a global rice shortage. Last Tuesday, Yap was only able to buy an additional 333,500 metric tons . . . enough to cover just 10 days of the country’s current daily consumption of 33,000 metric tons. That’s despite Yap practically waving a blank check when he announced, “We are not chasing any price. Our aim is to ensure there’s enough supply.”
Yap’s desperation is understandable but even if he can bring in enough rice to last until the next harvest season, affordability has started to become an issue. And if the ranks of our hungry fellow Pinoys reach a critical mass, massive street protests would follow that could teach him and his boss a lesson in history . . . the hard way.
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