Deception comes in cheap rice, cash

The rice tariffication law was conceptualized by Cynthia Villar, a lawmaker whose family, the richest in the Philippines, is into real estate. Once, she and Raffy Tulfo had a heated argument after the latter expressed concern over the systematic conversion of agricultural lands to subdivisions.

Cynthia tried to outsmart Raffy by claiming that her family only put up subdivisions in cities. Raffy was ready with statistics to prove his point.

This brings us to the stark reality that the business of real estate and farming are poles apart, and we are in a situation where the Committee on Agriculture is chaired by the matriarch of the country’s top subdivision and housing developer.

Ergo, we hear an off-the-cuff remark from Cynthia who claims she “has no guilt to farmers” as the author of the Rice Tariffication Law or RTL. She explained that the taxes collected (beyond P10 billion) from the imported rice were given back to the farmers.

We have seen this happen all right, but what was actually given back to the farmers could not even buy them two bags of fertilizer.

The RTL is a virtual noose around the necks of the farmers. It was made even worse when the bright boys of the Marcos administration cut the tariff on rice imports from 35 percent to 15 percent. In consonance, the House leadership rejoiced over the radical tariff reduction and they were grinning from ear to ear.

Today the consumer markets are flooded with cheap imported rice. As to how long the farmers will survive the inequity that the present crop of politicians has cast on them only time will tell.

But the hidden agenda is literally out of the [plastic] bag. “Romualdez rice” in plastic bags is flooding the streets. Marcos and his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, have been extremely busy going around the country doling out billions in cash, rice and ayuda (assistance) — from where these funds came, we don’t know. Now we see why the tariff on rice imports was reduced to only 15 percent. These brazen and palliative acts of generosity will go on up to the midterm elections next year, which in turn is crucial to the next presidential polls in 2028.

The People’s Initiative did not fly. This time, however, the hungry consumers are swallowing this decoction of opiates.

In Congress, meantime, the opposition, including the pro-communist party-list representatives, have gone to bed with the ruling party. They were easier to enlist as they were the vanishing tribe of politicians struggling to survive.

On the eve of their defeat, the CPP/NPA armed combatants were offered amnesty and, if that was not enough, the peace negotiations were revived. Vice President Sara Duterte dubbed the negotiations a “pact with the devil.” The strange bedfellows in Congress, including a bystander who called the VP “a bad shot,” had mounted an orchestrated attack against her.

Well, VP Sara has severed the last strand that bound the UniTeam for, after all, it has become a myth.