FORMULA TOWARDS NATIONAL ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION

By Bayawanon

The TRAIN LAW has taken effect already and it is now wreaking havoc in the countryside for it foments inflation. One of the effects of the TRAIN LAW is the skyrocketing prices of rice as opposed to the campaign promise of the president of having cheaper rice as cheap as Php 15.00 per kilo.

Now, the palace by way of Congress has taken bold steps to arrest the so-called RICE PROBLEM by passing the RICE TARIFFICATION LAW. In connection with this law, the National Food Authority will stop licensing and registering entities engaged in rice trading.

Due to the said development rice importation would be as prevalent than before and foreign rice would probably flood in the local market. The truth would tell us that the Philippines is lagging behind her Asian neighbors with regard to rice production, hence the recent passage of the RICE TARIFFICATION LAW would make the problem worse because importation of rice from other countries is no longer regulated.

Secondly, RICE HOARDING on the part of the local rice traders would be a possibility since their CLASS is also deregulated, thus the government is also losing control over them. In connection to this, RICE HOARDERS can easily hide rice products, and when the public lacks the supply of rice, the hoarders may release the rice to the consuming public for business at a much higher price.

It is true that the government can get sizable amount of money from the tariffs it can have from foreign rice importers, but the same importers can easily get back the tariffs they give to the government because they have the free movements of business with regard to rice trading in the Philippines which are not controlled by the government anymore.

With the recent economic slow down due to the TRAIN LAW and by virtue of the passage of the RICE TARIFFICATION LAW, an economic crisis is a possibility, and if that would happen, one can safely say that the steps of the government for an economic turn around like the TRAIN LAW and the RICE TARRIFICATION LAW are not actually steps towards economic leapfrog but a FORMULA TOWARDS NATIONAL ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION.