I got up early the other day with just ONE thought in my mind: what will happen if this GLOBAL phenomenon of RISING food prices goes on unchecked? The Philippine STAR quoted the International Monetary Fund in their April 14, 2008 issue, as saying: “Rising food prices could have terrible consequences for the world, including the risk of war”. I really hope that ‘highly rated’ radio commentator doesn’t start blaming things on OUR Government again, for a change. For the benefit of all those NEGATIVE minded and politically motivated sensationalists whose only purpose in life seems to be the selling of Newspapers and Airtime, and those terribly obsessed with Political ‘Power Grabs’, I would like to add another quote from Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee: “The global crisis has to be addressed with a global view and by strengthening the role of multilateral institutions.” It therefore is imperative that our National and LOCAL Governments must start forming ‘CRISIS COMMITTEES’ now, not only to regulate Food Prices, but, more importantly, to implement Security Measures preventing rampant hoarding, and stemming the consequent outbreak of hold-ups, robberies, snatchings, carnappings, and kidnappings which will be hard to contain the more the price of Rice and Oil keep shooting up from day to day!

        That recent ‘Con-game’ played on our ‘wise’ City Councilors only proves that we really are in for a lot of ‘trouble’ which threatens to get worse long before it gets better! Just as I wrote sometime ago, we really need a lot of VISUAL and PALPABLE Police Presence! Energetic Public Security Office Chief, Lito Del Rosario’s ‘Black’ and ‘Blue’ Guards (who still insist on directing Traffic from one side of an Intersection to the consternation of motorists like me who only hear their sporadic ‘whistling’ but don’t see where they’re at!), have grown in numbers BUT, aside from looking natty in their uniforms, are so powerless they have no choice but to hide behind electric posts whenever trouble erupts! With no Police Training they, unfortunately, cannot be issued deadly handguns which have a tendency to be used for the wrong purpose! Knowing this, criminals will, no doubt, exploit their high-powered arms advantage to the hilt, as shown by that daring broad daylight bloody Jollibee armed robbery! No wonder our City Council ‘Wonder Woman’, Ms. Badette Roco, has also seen the need to drop the ‘Maogmang Lugar’ from Naga City’s descriptive by-line and opted for the more appropriate and uncontroversial old one: ‘The Heart of Bicol’!

        Consequently, we can see the bleary state that our City’s SECURITY Set-up is in: not enough men to police our 27 Barangays, each of which deserves a 24-hr MANNED Police Outpost, at the very least (stick-wielding ‘Tanods’ who have a tendency to sleep or drink on the job cannot be trusted to defend our lives and properties!). Of course, additional manpower will lead to additional salaries, an EXPENSE which our good and unassuming Mayor (I’ve seen him often on his trusted bike roaming the City just like any ‘Buboy, Jim, and Danny’) can ‘provide’ through the additional taxes just waiting to be ‘justified’ and subsequently imposed (with the right ‘timing’, of course).

        The present Rice Crisis, aggravated, no end, by the ‘explosive’ rise in Oil prices (now zooming past $114/barrel) will, undoubtedly, prostrate our long-suffering Majority and force them to steal and rob just in order to SURVIVE! Most of them can barely afford the jeepney or bus fare going to the Naga City Supermarket and back, as a big chunk of their measly budget has now been eaten up by that overpriced kilo of rice! ‘Sosmaryosep’! “I’ll walk a mile FOR A KILO OF RICE, not a Camel” just might become a reality in the near future, if we don’t get our acts together! Furthermore, belaboring the ‘Cheaper Medicines’ Bill can no longer be used to ‘filibuster’ in Congress; it MUST be passed ASAP! Even if those giant, foreign Drug Companies win the battle (for ‘brand name’ inclusion), they just don’t see it yet, but they will ultimately lose the WAR! For the simple reason that their relatively high prices (caused by their costly imported raw materials and Marketing ‘Mix’) will force them to either back down or back out of the ‘Money Game’: instead of the specified number of tablets that a Doctor prescribes, patients will be able to buy only one or two simply because, no matter what their Doctor says, they will no longer be able to practically afford it (food on the table will always hold top priority!). This will, consequently, lead to a GLUT of Branded Meds forcing their prices to dive way below their Profit Levels and our Big Time Medical ‘Sponsors’ will, unfortunately, and ultimately, have to give way to the Generic Drugs, whose time will certainly come!

        Politicians, on the other hand, should, instead of stampeding towards 2010, start initiating ways that will help ease the dizzying downward spiral of our Economy by, perhaps, using a THIRD of their Community Development Fund to IMPORT relatively cheap Rice and selling the same at ZERO profit in their Districts or Localities (through the Parish Priests who will only be so happy to oblige in this Humanitarian endeavor, rather than joining all those non-productive, traffic-stopping rallies!) thereby easing the demand for ‘hoarded’ R.P. Rice and forcing these HEARTLESS hoarders to unload their stocks at the old pre-crisis levels!

        The Department of Agriculture, again with the open-hearted assistance of the Church, can conduct free seminars and give away free seedlings and inputs which will encourage everyone to try ‘BACKYARD FARMING’! I’ve seen how some people have managed to plant even RICE in the privacy of their balconies and earth-filled window boxes! They can also teach us how to plant the needed raw materials for flour, up to its production, including the basic rudiments for bread making, so that, in times like this, we will have an alternative staple which can take the place of rice on our tables. Too much rice, by the way, has the tendency to also cause DIABETES, that insidious modern day ‘killer’!

        As an afterthought, and to help everyone live more securely in the privacy of their own homes and places of work, no matter how far or seemingly ISOLATED they might be, I would like to kindly request our creative and approachable Mayor Jessie to take the necessary steps to be able to provide us with a 24/7 HOTLINE which will automatically connect us with the Police, Fire Dept., Casureco, Bicol Medical Center, and FREE Emergency Ambulance Service (which, by the way, this City is in DIRE NEED of) thru a sort of Emergency Communications Center, similar to the 911 Service in the U.S. of A. This number or numbers, the Mayor will, of course, ‘encourage’ everyone to SAVE in their Cellular Phones, thru the able assistance of our ‘sensational’ Radio and T.V. announcers, so that in times of trouble and emergencies, we will all know how to CONNECT with everybody else (instead of scratching our heads and PANICKING), and this, my friends, is a good start for everyone to come together and UNITE!

                                                ***

        “In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing” -- Theodore Roosevelt

        “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office” -- Aesop

        “An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought” -- Simon Cameron