on the way to school this morning, i was surprised — no, shocked — to see throngs of people lining up in the public elementary school near our house.

as i was in transit while passing them by, i could not get a clear picture of why people were lining up on such a humid day. a couple of elderly ladies however, flagged down the tricycle that i was riding in, and they blabbered about what they’ve been through.

sweat-stained middle-aged women, three of them and about 35-40 years old, exclaimed how lucky they’ve been to have been partitioned with NFA rice. yes siree! NFA rice, which GMA — thru her secretary arthur yap — has promised has been the reason for all the commotion — because it was our barangay’s turn to have a share of her supposed ‘generosity’ amid a looming rice crisis that has threatened to starve our countrymen for months on end.

if you’ve been observant of the news lately, people are highly skeptical of the supposed ‘rice crisis’ that’s been threatening the very survival of middle-class to lower-class filipino families. for one, the government has taken a very defensive stance in terms of quelling any rumors that the country is in the midst of an economic crisis — but if you check what it’s doing (distributing rice and all, and signing up thailand for rice imports), it obviously is trying to divert people’s attention from the fact that it IS INDEED a present and pressing problem.

i honestly don’t know what GMA is up to, but if there is an impending rice crisis, she should let the people know — admission, after all, would not be construed as a sign of weakness, especially if it threatens the very constituents that she has vowed to serve and protect.

but then again, a lot of people also suspect that she might just be drumming up this problem because she wants people to forget about the NBN-ZTE deal which has seriously dealt damage to her already fragile and corrupt administration.

whatever the real reason may be, let’s just hope that our ‘public servants’ will come out clean — and soon — so we will not be always left in the dark of what’s currently happening, and what will happen in the days to come.

as for us, lets just remain calm but vigilant, and clamor for what is rightfully ours.