EDITORIAL — A case of bad planning?

Almost 400 sacks of rice are now up for testing to see if they are still fit for human consumption after they were found in a warehouse in Barangay Tawason, Mandaue City.

They were allegedly unsold stock from the Sugbo Merkadong Barato program of the previous provincial administration. The program offered it for ?20 per kilo a week to indigent beneficiaries in Mandaue.

Why was there a lot of rice left over? Three reasons, according to City Social Welfare Services head Michael Allan Pielago. First, only selected individuals were allowed to buy the rice. Many wanted to buy, but couldn’t. The selected beneficiaries were given QR-coded cards.

Second, many of these intended beneficiaries lived too far away. Many considered it too much of an effort to come get it. Third, intended beneficiaries may have been put off by the reputation of NFA rice.

If the rice is found to no longer be fit for human and was just a feast for weevils, then what a waste indeed.

This development now begs the question: Was this just a case of bad planning on the part of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the provincial government? Because they set the conditions for buying the rice.

As per the Philippine Statistics Authority, the average Filipino family consumes 8.9 kilos of rice a week. Did they not foresee that some families would need more than two kilos of rice weekly? But then again the program may have just been meant to augment their rice supply instead of take care of it entirely.

Was it also a lack of foresight that the intended beneficiaries lived too far away from the designated distribution centers? Too far that the intended beneficiaries considered it a waste of time and resources to come down from the hinterlands for just two kilos of rice a week?

Was there no plan to establish other distribution centers closer to the intended beneficiaries? Was it also not foreseen QR-coded cards needed internet, so only a few distribution centers could be designated?

The good intent of the program is understandable. But it seems to have been muddled by details that the planners didn’t see coming.