Riceponsible Ordinance

Every Filipino wastes at least two tablespoons of rice per day and that is according to a survey conducted by National Food Authority in 2013. If we have to remember the year 2013 was declared by then president Noynoy Aquino as “The National Year of Rice.” The presidential decree was signed pursuant to the government’s aim to encourage the general public to be responsible rice consumers in order to complement the government’s efforts to achieve rice self-sufficiency.

Last January 8 of this year, the Davao City Council approved “half-cup of rice ordinance” making the city as the 5th city with Rice Conservation Ordinance together with Manila City, Quezon City, Cebu City, and Iloilo City.

What shall the public benefit from this ordinance?

First, half-cup of rice will be included as option in serving rice in all food establishments except for buffet or eat-all-you can or unli-rice establishments. Diabetic person like me can now order for a half-cup of rice. Even those on diet will benefit from this ordinance.

Second, this will lessen the possibility of left-over. In my younger years I used to order three rice servings because I was a voracious eater of rice, but as I grew older I realized that I could only consume 1 1/2 cup of serving but I could not order for half-cup of rice because it was not part of the menu. There were a lot of instances that I wasted half of my servings because I could not consume or because there was no option to order half-cup of rice. As I have said in the opening sentence, we waste at least two tablespoons of rice per day. With this ordinance the public and the food establishments will be disciplined to serve and eat rice according to our healthy appetite.

Finally, time will come that the Philippines will no longer have to import rice. The country continues to import rice as it is only 32 percent rice sufficient in terms of production. We import rice from Vietnam and Thailand and from other ASEAN neighboring countries as our form of rice sufficiency especially in preparation for the El Niño phenomenon. With this ordinance which is becoming popular in the country, we expect that both the public consumers and food industry will benefit from this half-cup of rice ordinance especially that there is penalty for the violators.

Under the ordinance the food establishments that will violate the law will be slapped with a fine ranging from Php 1,500 for the first offense up to Php 5,000 and “permanent cancellation of the business permit” for the third offense.

Being riceponsible means we eat according to our appetite and we do not waste the rice served to us in the food establishment. Likewise, the food business people should offer us the choice to order for a half-cup of rice by including it in their menu with a discounted price (of course).