Vendetta isn’t edible
It was a stunning success as it afforded poor Filipinos access to basic goods within their tight budget, with two components that eliminated the need for a middleman — the usual source of unreasonable spikes in prices.
Daily TribuneIt was a stunning success as it afforded poor Filipinos access to basic goods within their tight budget, with two components that eliminated the need for a middleman — the usual source of unreasonable spikes in prices.
Critics of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos' intiative on rice sold at P20 per kilo should look back to find that vicious partisanship and political vendetta played a huge part in pushing Filipino families to bear the brunt of high prices.
BBM, in his meeting with scientists and officials of the International Rice Research Institute, said among the keys to hitting his obsession to end hunger among Filipinos through affordable prices is the rolling out of Kadiwa stores.
"I am hoping that we will see some adjustment in prices for Christmas and it looks like baka naman suwertehin tayo," he said as Marcos bared a plan to resume the nationwide Kadiwa program of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
FM spearheaded the creation of the IRRI that produced seeds of the regional staple that maximized farm harvests.
Thailand and Vietnam, the world's biggest rice exporters, credited the IRRI for rice strains that made their farmers productive and farming profitable.
Sadly, most of the programs that were key to reducing poverty and helping Filipino farmers including the exploitation of IRRI, which comes up with its breakthrough discoveries in Los Baños, Laguna, were abruptly halted following the 1986 People Power revolt.
All programs identified with Marcos were discontinued including those which contributed a lot to alleviate the plight of the poor.
When the EDSA Revolt happened, all Kadiwa stores and warehouses were sadly ransacked and vandalized.
Big business groups behind then-former President Cory Aquino worked hard to write it off.
The powerful forces behind the revolt did not have to do much to convince the new president to permanently abandon the program.
Private traders wanted the subsidized goods removed since cheap prices of commodities in the Kadiwa stores cut into their profit.
The Kadiwa project came into being with the key involvement of first lady Imelda Marcos.
On 22 February 1968, President Marcos signed Proclamation 347 to start the Kadiwa program and to set up the sprawling Greater Manila Terminal Food Market which is now a private commercial complex owned by the Ayala Group.
It was a stunning success as it afforded poor Filipinos access to basic goods within their tight budget, with two components that eliminated the need for a middleman — the usual source of unreasonable spikes in prices.
The program provided the Kadiwa centers and the rolling stores that brought cheap commodities to communities including those that are very far from the government stores.
Aside from providing the poor with low-priced goods, the Kadiwa program also created a sure market for farmers.
The program's nerve center was the Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig which had storage facilities, a food processing center, and a centrally-refrigerated warehouse complete with chilling rooms, freezer storage, an ice plant, blast freezers, and refrigerated processing rooms.
It has a slaughterhouse, a chicken dressing plant, dry storage, and packaging facilities for export products.
Due to the yellow whim, all Kadiwa networks painstakingly built over 20 years were lost and will now have to be rebuilt at great cost to provide the poor with the opportunity to improve their state.
Most of the properties seized from Kadiwa are now in the hands of the backers of the 1986 EDSA takeover.