Proudly Philippine-made, cherished for centuries, consumed with delight and promoted as a superior product. Doesn’t this sound much better than the product known as “Bagong Pilipinas” that will be launched at huge government expense on Jan. 28, 2024?
Yes, we should invest billions in “Bagoong Pilipinas,” “Atchara ni Orosa,” “sukang Paombong” and thousands of other artisanal products that the Philippine government neglected to promote instead of trying to launch a propaganda movement of dubious import to sanitize, ferment and falsify the consciousness of 115 million Filipinos.
Let’s face it. The Marcos Jr. administration is a weak regime that cannot energize the nation to unite under its ideological state apparatus (ISA), and its digitized electoral “victory” could hardly be the basis for the Filipino people to support its inherited programs like the much-maligned jeepney modernization program for the benefit of Chinese “baby-bus” manufacturers that will kick out 140,000 drivers and operators from the only livelihood that they know. Jeepneys hardly cause the terrible pollution in Metro Manila, where 1.6 million vehicles, mostly private cars, cram the roads. The condominiums and commercial buildings that comprise the concrete jungle, along with factories, disgorge more pollutants.
After being exposed for fudging their facts as their so-called consolidation of franchises could not even approximate 40%, LTFRB and the DoTR now want the repressive state apparatus (RSA) to go after drivers and prevent them from plying their routes. Is that how “Bagong Pilipinas” operates? Likewise, the Department of Agriculture (DA) belatedly admits that the country loses 15% of its palay output for lack of post-harvest and storage facilities, a fact known as early as 1973, when the country had a rice surplus, but not after saying there was no money to support farmers who have lost to vegetable smugglers who have flooded the country with substandard, cheap vegetables from China. Uncontrolled importations are the problem and it is the state that allows it for unfathomable reasons. It has become so profitable for the Chinese that you now see them in the markets lending money to Filipino stall owners.
The cono-type rice mills are no longer efficient and must be replaced but the new equipment must be appropriate for the medium rice grains of the country rather than the short, glutinous-like rice grains grown in Japan, the Korean Peninsula, China and Vietnam. We use spoon and forks, not chopsticks. One miller said he had to part with the milling equipment sent to him since it was fit for Korea, not Isabela.
The DA says the total annual loss is 450,000 metric tons (MT), a conservative figure, or P10.7 billion, or 10% of the country’s annual rice imports. Herculano “Joji” Co, a big Luzon rice miller, said the total palay lost to “solar drying,” or the palay left to dry in the highways and “multi-purpose pavements” and the milling losses are equivalent to the annual rice import volume. The Philippines is the world’s biggest rice importer and it has the bad reputation of bringing in huge import volumes when its own farmers are harvesting rice. Agriculture Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel Jr. said the country needs to invest at least P1.3 trillion over the next few years to boost rice production, reduce wastage of crops, meat and fish and ensure the country’s food security. Irrigating 1.2 million hectares of farmlands will require P1.2 trillion. At least P93 billion is needed to build rice mills and warehouses to reduce rice losses.
Will these problems be solved by “Bagong Pilipinas”? The hazy objectives of the movement to be launched on the lazy Sunday on Jan. 28, 2024 are themselves problematic. We should be taking the bull by the horns, not talking about a cultural revolution starting with following New Year’s Day resolutions, having daily workouts and changing mindsets for yet-to-be-disclosed goals. The “Bagong Pilipino” will still suffer brain fog for dedicating himself to fighting for a mirage. Just promote “Bagoong Pilipinas, “Patis Pilipinas,” “Atcharang Pilipinas” and “Kakaning Pilipinas” and people will understand and buy, even if they hardly earn the national living wage of P1,188.