LAST week, a member of our audience wondered if the so-called rice crisis is real. She wasn’t alone in thinking this. As Reuters recently reported, “Rice price surge frustrates and puzzles Asians” and as another Reuters report puts it, as things become clearer, one thing’s sure: there’s “No quick fix to soothe Asia’s rice shortage fears.”

As I told you last week, tonight we’re going to take a peek at Thads Bentulan’s comparison of rice prices in Hong Kong, Singapore, and here at home. Bentulan has a pet theory of his, in mind, called HyperWage, but that’s for another episode of this show to tackle. What I thought you’d find interesting and relevant tonight, is his comparison of how many hours it takes two kinds of workers, to earn enough money, to buy a kilo of rice. He looked at domestic helpers and janitors; DH’s, because many Filipinos are in that line of work in Singapore and Hong Kong; and janitors, because that’s about the most menial job a native Singaporean or Hong Konger will be in.

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Since the modern presidency began in 1935, presidents have obsessed over rice.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo happens to be a chief executive with a better historical sense than most of her recent predecessors. After all, the burden of history is particularly heavy on her shoulders.

She knows a rice shortage helped ensure her father’s victory in 1961-

And a rice shortage helped ensure that he went down to electoral defeat in 1965.

She therefore knows that food is the ultimate political question.

This week, we’ll look into a little of the history, the politics, of food shortages; and even the economics not just of the rice problem, but its accompanying problems, as well.

The Politics of Palay

AS one of my favorite bloggers, The Warrior Lawyer, recently put it, rice is a political commodity. Every administration, bar none, has been sensitive to rice prices and rice supplies.

After all, a recent report, quoting the International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, points out the Philippines has imported rice almost every year since 1869, far more recently than say, Java, Indonesia’s most populous island, which has been an importer since the 16th century!

And every administration has tried to attend to this shortfall in rice supplies, by bureaucratizing it.

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This morning, lawyers representing the Senate went to the Supreme Court to file a motion for reconsideration, accompanied by citizens worried over the consequences of the high court’s decision on executive privilege.

You’ve read, heard, and watched the lawyers debate the decision to death. What’s been lacking is why the lawyers -and even wily Senators- are so alarmed.

When our Supreme Court handed down its decision in Neri v. Senate Committee, legal luminaries weighed in, often critically.

Fr. Joaquin Bernas declared the decision “dangerously crippling,” as it limits the ability of the legislature to ask questions of executive officials.

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In recent weeks, the Spratleys have been in the news. Questions have been asked about the policy of our government concerning our Spratleys claim. After all, by law, part of the Island group is administered as an integral part of the province of Palawan.

The controversy has ranged from accusations of a sell-out to China, to old-fashioned incompetence in the handling of our foreign affairs. And yet the controversy has resulted in producing as much light as the usual political heat.

REMEMBER this map from last week? It showed a Spanish historian’s suggestion as to how the Spanish viewed the Philippines. To them, it was a territory that encompassed not only our present country, but extended to the Marianas and the Carolines, thus extending us from our country to Guam and Saipan.

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He didn’t make it to the 50 year mark as Cuba’s Supreme Leader, but Fidel Castro has managed to hand over power, peacefully. He did so, despite repeated predictions he wouldn’t do it, or that once he did, the system he created would collapse.

More than that, Castro continues to be a figure admired by those who admire Socialism and who believe it can provide an alternative path to development.

Let’s take a look at El Commandante, the Fidel of legend and reality. It’s Castro Night on the The Explainer.

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Hi all, since this episode was mostly interview based we can’t post Manolo’s script.

So here’s Atty Marvin Aceron’s power point presentation that he presented during the show. 

Enjoy!

- Kristine 

The more government’s tried to fix one p.r. problem, the more problems it’s created for itself. From Jun Lozada’s abduction to the present, the tangled stories of the administration have turned into quite a sticky web indeed.

In the face of so many official lies, a clamor for the truth has emerged.

The past month has seen a new force enter the fray, a force with burning idealism but also, a startling conservatism, even pragmatism. That force is the youth. We’ll meet one such group, tonight.

It’s Fair Hope of the Motherland Night on The Explainer.

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Explainer 81 Let’s do it

TIME and again, I’ve been told by doctors and nurses, that the peak time for births in our country, is nine months after Valentine’s Day. Beyond being a Hallmark Holiday, Valentine’s then is not just about wine and roses, fancy dates and chocolates. It’s about well- how does the Cole Porter song go? Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, let’s do it, let’s fall in love.

And, apparently, making love, too.

So as we look forward to, or dread, the day of hearts, let’s look at the things that make our chests go thump-thump. The pitter-patter called attraction: it’s tunnel of love night on The Explainer.

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The country once more recalls the 100,000 civilians killed during the Battle for Manila in 1945. As we do once a month, we will meet a distinguished author: in this case, someone who has done his bit to pass on his recollections of the national trauma known as the Japanese Occupation. 

I. Looking with fresh eyes 

Let’s try to look at an old picture with fresh eyes.

This is a street scene. Can you tell me where this was taken?

And what can you tell me about this scene, something that truly sets it apart from us today?

Well, the answer is, people are driving on the left side.

We used to drive on the left side, as most other Asians still do, until the Americans returned in 1945.

At the time, there were so many GI’s rumbling around in tanks and trucks, running over Filipinos, that the American military authorities decreed we’d all have to drive on their side of the road.

That bit of trivia suggests to us how so many changes, big and small, took place from December 8, 1941 when war began, to the surrender of Japan in August, 1945.

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We’ve been having difficulty with the comments on the Explainer blog for a long time now but I think they’ve been fixed!

So if anyone does read this blog, please leave a comment. We’d like to know we’re not alone.