The politics of food

If there is one thing that makes me think hard about going back to politics to influence public policy, it is food.

Food is scarce in Romblon. The Romblomanons are going hungry, the reason why they cling to politics to try their luck in getting food.

Let me qualify this. Romblon politics is about the currency of the peso. Most politicians are allured by power because in the Philippines, power is associated with money; and to acquire more money, for themselves and for their constituents who they buy with money, is one among our politicians’ many and varied interests. That’s simple logic. It doesn’t take one to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Voters, on the other hand are attracted to politicians who have the money. I said they are trying their luck, hoping that the galaxy of politicians around whose orbits they revolve come election time will result to a peso windfall. Well, they are also attracted to the halo of political power that would reflect upon them, like a moth to the lamp, if they get near or close to a winning politician, but this is seldom. Most of the time, after winning, the politician forgets them until the next election season.

Romblon’s poor is a mixture of the power-hungry and the money-hungry lot. I cannot blame them. For years, our politicians had soaked them in a culture of dependency. Rep. Budoy Madrona knows this. Gov. Lolong Firmalo knows this, too, that’s why as early as now, the two are already engaged in re-election activities. Forget the food. It will come in bounty in a handful of ways in the next election.

But good governance, if I read President Benigno S. Aquino III right, is more than instant gratification, and certainly, more than winning re-election. It’s about profound change and reform, which the Liberal Party espoused in winning the 2010 election. It’s about righteousness in running the affairs of state, as the party slogan, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”, exemplifies.

Nine years of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s and his henchmen’s (Madrona, Jojo Beltran, Dodoy Perez, and Bernie Fondevilla come to mind) looting have rendered the country bankrupt. So, it is only proper that President Noy nurses our country back to its health. If the President leading the example in good governance has not rubbed off on Madrona and Firmalo, then Romblon is really going to the dogs. But let’s not forget that both belong to the Liberal Party, with Firmalo joining first, and Madrona doing a butterfly somersault after the election. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt that they, in spirit, imbibe the “tuwid na daan ng pamamahala” of the President.

And what better example this analogy applies to than food? Romblon imports rice and vegetables, its main staple, either from Panay or Mindoro. We do not produce enough food so much so that a large chunk of our money resources, private and public, goes to pay for these commodities.

We have the land; we have the people; modern farming technology is available; the seasons favor our province with sufficient rainfall and sunshine; and we have agriculture experts, but we don’t plant and produce sufficient food. Instead, we choose the easy way out by engaging in too much politics and by asking outsiders to mine the intestines of our province for mineral resources.

If the people have enough food on their tables, they would not have grumbling stomachs. Surveys after surveys of the Filipinos’ spending habits point to the incontrovertible fact that the bulk of their expenses go to food.

If this is so, why don’t Madrona and Firmalo sit down and put food sufficiency in their agenda, instead of pledging love for each other that they will cease to raid each other camps? If food is the need of the province, why shouldn’t our leaders think of ways to increase crops and vegetable produce, rather than spend nights in barangay fiestas amusing the people with their peroration about their supposed impeccable credentials, fake Samaritan spirit, and shallow accomplishments?

We need food, desperately. I came to this conclusion when, at a recent trip to Bangkok, I almost cried in envy upon seeing Thai farmers planting vegetables in vacant city lots. In Bangkok, food is so inexpensive (because they are aplenty) that the Thais don’t grumble despite low wages. Here in the Philippines, workers demand for higher and higher salaries simply because their incomes are not sufficient to feed themselves and their families. In Thailand, like somewhere else in Southeast Asia, governments prioritize food sufficiency as a matter of national survival and as key to stability. In the Philippines, our priority is politics.

In Japan, farmers produce a variety of food in surplus quantities for export. Rice is a national patrimony in Japan. Its market is closed to rice imports and Japanese farmers have so strong a lobby that Prime Ministers are elected on the strength of the support they get from rice farmers. Here in Romblon, our politicians are elected and re-elected on the strength of their money-raising abilities, fleecing investors who can’t publicly complain that they are being fleeced.

So, if we need food, food in sufficient quantities and varieties that would give our people peace of mind and happiness, and also, additional income, what do we do?

We plant, of course. But that is easier said than done. I suggest Gov. Firmalo sit down with Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and find out how the latter had succeeded in increasing the food production capacities of the farmers of his district in Quezon and also of farmers in many parts of the country.

The challenge for Firmalo as governor, I believe, is to nudge the Romblomanons along the lines of a practical program that would ensure food sufficiency in Romblon in the next two years. That’s the only time left for him.

For Madrona, the challenge is for him to support, through legislation and his pork barrel, a food production program by making available and increasing agricultural inputs and by helping open up markets for Romblon’s produce. The likes of Beto Muros and his wife, Ellen, who are producing quality peanut butter even if their peanuts come from Divisoria because Romblon does not produce enough peanuts, must get government support.

As to the lack of knowledge and understanding of agriculture policy and market behavior, including supply and demand, these can be supplied by the agriculture bureaucrats whose talents are under-utilized. The last time I visited the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in Odiongan, for example, I only saw employees there scratching papers and looking at the clock. Ask them how many tons of copra Sibale produced in 2009 and they wouldn’t know. It’s a pity.

I also believe that Romblon State University has enough bright agriculture students and experts on food production. Their researches must be operationalized into practical action programs. Dr. Jeter Sespene must ensure this happens if he is to live up to the glowing write-up about himself on the RSU’s website as a “man with big dreams and of big actions” because the “big actions” I was only hearing are his being engaged in petty politics. And while I am at it, will somebody please clarify who is the real “father” of the RSU because I have heard that Budoy Madrona is also claiming the title? It’s in the RSU website, people.

Now, a sensible agriculture program must combine all of the above elements, but most importantly the farmers themselves. They need to be inspired and motivated into participating in the program because they will be its beneficiaries. Without them, the program will fail.