CHEERS, President Gloria M. Arroyo. That was the right step. To be rice self-sufficient, we must produce enough. To produce enough, we must give the producers the incentives.

And to the producers, there is no better incentive than a good price of their product. The President, the other day, ordered the farmgate price of unhusked palay at P17 a kilo from P12 a kilo. This is a 42 percent increase.

Expect the next rice production to improve. Anyone who has a piece of land planting other crops, will shift to rice.

I am very happy with this turn of events. All these years this was what I have been harping on. I foresaw this crisis, knowing the increase in population and the neglect of production incentives that led to a shortage.

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Our problem now is these countries we used to import rice from will not sell us rice any more unless we meet their price. And the latest is rice for export in the U.S. and naturally the other exporting countries will follow is 1,000 dollars to a ton.

That means P41,250 a ton or P41.50 a kilo and add to it the other expenses. Hence, the P60 a kilo.

And we are happy about the full attention the late Gov. Joseph Marañon, together with Vice Gov. then, now Gov. Isidro Zayco had given to food security. Where before we imported 30 percent of our rice needs, now we import only 10 percent.

Gov. Marañon established many small irrigation projects, according to Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan. We now have a total of 54,000 hectares irrigated lands.

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But raising the farm gate price is not enough. We hope Gov. Zayco and engineer Tabianan bring this up with the President and the Secretary of Agriculture.

NFA must work out to buy farmers’ palay. If the farmers find it more bothersome because of their lack of facilities, the farmers will again be at the mercy of rice traders. Listen to my Feedback tonight. My guest is engineer Tabianan.

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It’s good Gov. Zayco has insisted on the recall of the 12 scalawags in uniform being “exiled” here.

These erring policemen should have been disciplined by their respective commanders. Or, because they failed to discipline their men, they should be the ones to be exiled.

Transfer does not solve the problem. Take the case of  the one Neil Honeyman remembered. On June 19, 2003, I asked my man in the farm to slaughter one pig and bring the meat at home. In his private tricycle he brought the meat at home. In Sum-ag, he was apprehended by a policeman who turned out to be from Iloilo transferred here as punishment for his extortion activities there.

Another cop, a local one, told my man, that with P500 he could have the driver’s license returned. When I learned of it, I filed a complaint and the fellow was recalled to Iloilo. I don’t know what happened after.

My point is, a cop or anyone for that matter, being used to an illegal activity will still be in it, even if transferred to another place. The more he will even do it because nobody knows him there.

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Transferring policemen is a common thing in order that they do not get into fraternization with the people.

But for policemen transferred because they were a problem in a place, media should announce to the people why they were transferred. Then ask the people to watch them. Monitor them, like some whose forte is extorting from drivers.

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Along this line we welcome the coming of Sen. Panfilo Lacson who will be guest speaker at the induction ceremonies of the Negros Press Club 7 p.m. Saturday at L’Fisher Hotel.

It was during the incumbency of Lacson at the PNP that policemen were straightened. Lacson never spared a scalawag. And when they saw Lacson meant it, they behaved.

What our regional command should inculcate in the police commanders is that they discipline their men. If they cannot discipline them, then they should be the ones to be “exiled”.

I have always been advocating for a strong and honest national leader. The likes of David Ben Gurion, Lee Kwan Yew, Mahathir Muhamad, Park Chung-hee who turned their country to become a progressive one.

We had strong Presidents too. The problem was they were corrupt. This is believing Ping Lacson is not corrupt. None has been raised against his integrity except the killing of some Kuratong Baleleng gangs, a criminal group.

Lacson just lacked the finesse of Rodrigo Duterte who told us recently in Davao that criminals there commit suicide.

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