By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

SOMETHING that’s closest to the gut of Pinoys now threatens to put everything going on in this country– NBN-ZTE deal, Lozada’s crusade, Lakas-Kampi merger, Villarosa’s acquittal, the smuggling issue brouhaha between congressmen and PASG chief Bebot Villar , typhoons, even Ben’s to die for ‘borjer’ – in the back burner.

Rice, the staple, the cereal that most Pinoys can’t do without in a day, now looms in scarce supply. And that is bad news, real bad news.

The administration, quite naturally, won’t say it directly but the telltale signs are there: We’re importing rice from Vietnam, the President has suddenly allocated a whooping P1.6 billion to the Department of Agriculture to boost rice production and the grains agency, the National Food Administration, is nervously twitching as it calculates how long the available stocks in its bodegas could last..

There’s even Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap’s’ appeal to restaurant and fast-food outlets to try serving half-rice only to customers — ostensibly to avoid wastage in the case of diet-conscious people who take only a few spoonfuls of rice with their viand and leave a mountain of the staple on their plates to be thrown away.

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No, the problem is not uniquely Philippines, it’s worldwide. Dwindling rice supply is felt around the globe. The World Food Program says global rice stocks are at a 20-year low while rice prices are surging to a 20-year high.

The result is that leading rice producers like Vietnam, India and Egypt have had to restrict exports in order to keep their own local markets stocked and their domestic prices stable. Climate change that has altered crop production drastically, along with natural calamities are seen as the main causes of the growing shortfall in rice production. Growing population around the world, of course, is also one of the leading causes for the rice shortage.

We’d better have those irrigation systems repaired and fast, improve rice production techniques and tighten controls on hoarding and price manipulation before we come to experience fearsome, never-before-seen food riots occurring in the country, God forbid!

One easy thing you could do to help – Put only enough rice in your plate that you can consume. That simple act can go a long way towards conserving what little there is left in our rice supply holds.

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No doubt, neophyte congresswoman Rachel Arenas scored great “pogi” points with her constituents in the third district with that big extravaganza she and her mother, the young-at-heart Rosemarie ‘Baby’ Arenas, pulled off in Malasiqui complete with a presidential presence last Tuesday, the 18th.

Someone hollered “Anggapomet so bagyo, ondedelap balet na grasya, sambot yo!” (There’s no typhoon but it’s flooding with goods, quick help yourself!) as he egged his companions to go to the distribution points of rice, groceries and assorted goodies.

T’was one helluva dust kicked up out there at the Malasqui Central School by the rush of humanity as soon as the President left on her chopper. The poor volunteer helpers and some agency representatives were mobbed, their eyes looking awed, faces aghast over the tsunami they found themselves in and for a while, it really looked like a scene straight out of a typhoon relief operations, the crowd pushing, shoving, yelling, cursing.

We tried to look around to see any other top official present, maybe even the lady solon but she too had gone (probably joining the President’s party that left). Only former Vice Governor Oscar Lambino, ever dependable guy he, stood there onstage trying to help put a semblance of order on things, plus some other councilor or barangay types we couldn’t recognize.

A couple of the volunteer doctors at the medical-dental clinics were talking to each other on one side, sharing woes at the melee and of being suddenly abandoned by their superiors and the other “organizers,” leaving them pretty much on their own with nary an advice on where they’ll take their lunch. Finally, two of them decided to do the slip and head home.

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What is there to say about the Dagupan cop who got killed in bed supposedly with another man’s wife while, again, supposedly on duty?

Cop chief Diony Borromeo, we’re sure, has given his men a mouthful about that unfortunate incident by this time in their morning formations. It won’t bring back the dead peace officer to life, that’s for sure, but hopefully, Borromeo’s verbal bats at discipline in the ranks, however belatedly given, would help prevent any more tragedy of that sordid sort befalling anyone else among his uniformed.

No, it’s not exactly a breakdown of individual discipline we’re pointing out here (how does one ever anticipate and rein in a man’s, civilian or uniformed, filled-to-bursting love containers?) but how the police system can keep closer watch on its men, during a state of alert or otherwise. In this particular case, there’s the police community precinct commander’s responsibility to know where his men are and whether or not they’re on official business at their positions at any given time.

But one can grant that a wayward cop can always find creative means to hide his real whereabouts from his monitoring officer or commander –easy to give anyone the slip especially if you’ve got the training and capacity for it.

But it’s a poor commander who can’t smell whatever it is his men are cooking, a good, old homely apple pie or a dark, pungent devil’s salad somewhere, that’s the long and short of it.

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Any bank will always offer any local government unit its loan facilities, especially if the lending institution sees that the potential borrower has the means to pay for it. Whether the LGU avails of it or not however is another story altogether.

In that, technocrat Raffy Baraan, the provincial administrator, is correct.

And any local government unit, for that matter could be tempted to borrow more than necessary from a most accommodating bank especially if the LGU knows an open credit is ready for the taking like it were a blank check, withdrawable anytime and who cares about the interest payments?

In this, politician Alfonso C. Bince, Jr., the politician-statesman, is also correct.

Baraan’s strong denial (See story somewhere in this issue) about the provincial government applying for a bank loan “at this time” should speak for itself for now. And Bince and the rest of the “doubters” can take his word for it, at least until Bossman
Spines, the governor, finally presents to the sangguniang panlalawigan in black and white a bill of particulars and a formal request for authorization to apply for a direct loan with the bank.

Then can the SP, with lawyer Bince possibly spearheading it, fully scrutinize the proposed agreement to the minutest detail and to their heart’s content.

That is, if by that time, they still have the disposition for such eye-straining work, all ‘external’ factors bearing down on the proposition considered.

As far as I believe, I think it’s just a matter of time. The provincial executive office will be applying for that loan sooner than later. Wanna bet?