MANILA, Philippines -- Unlike the oil shortage, the root of the rice crisis is in the Philippines, not dictated by the world market, Senator Manuel Roxas II said Monday as he urged the government to “get real” about the problem.

In a radio interview, Roxas asked: “Our expenditures on agriculture and irrigation are increasing, so why are we becoming less and less self-sufficient? Our rice importation is growing bigger.”

He said that oil was another issue altogether as the Philippines imported 100 percent of its oil requirements. “We plant rice here. But our rice imports are growing bigger,” he said.

He said rice was a big problem because it is a problem of the stomach [“sikmura”] and should be addressed immediately and truthfully.

Roxas, who heads the Senate committee on trade and commerce, asked the government to “get real [magpakatotoo].”

“Mas mabuti na magpakatotoo ang gobyerno, sabihin kung mayroong problema tayo, at kung ano ang gagawin nating sakripisyo na hihilingin ng gobyerno sa bawat isa [It is better for the government to get real and say if we have a problem and what sacrifice government expects from each one of us],” he said.

Roxas, who is Liberal Party president, said the problem would only worsen if the government would choose to deny the real situation. “Why is the price of rice going higher if we don’t have a problem? In the meantime, the supply in the world market is tightening and we can’t buy enough to import,” he said.

He said the problem, once admitted, might be addressed by the combined efforts of the National Food Authority, the Department of Agriculture, and the National Irrigation Authority.

“Ang problema ay dinadaan nila sa propaganda, sasabihin na kulang sa labas, e hindi naman tayo dapat kumuha sa labas, rice self-sufficiency tayo e [The problem is they are going the way of propaganda, saying that the lack is outside the country when we should not be importing because we’re supposed to be rice self-sufficient],” he said.

Roxas said that if the government was pointing to outside forces for the problem, did it mean that it was admitting that the country could not meet the rice needs of its people?

“Inaamin na ba ng gobyerno na ang policy nila ay gawing mas mahal ang bigas? Kung sasabihin ng gobyerno na wala tayong problema, walang shortage, pero tataas ang presyo ng bigas, ano ang ibig sabihin noon? Ibig sabihin ay policy na ng gobyerno na pataasin, gawing mas mahal ang bigas. [Is government admitting that its policy is to make rice prices higher? If the government insists on saying that we don’t have a problem, that we don’t have a shortage, but the price of rice keeps going up, what does that mean? It means that the government policy is to get the prices of rice higher],” he explained.