On June 14, Senator Cynthia Villar made a statement that caught the attention of thousands of concerned citizens. In the Committee Hearing, she raised her concern on fast food restaurants’ unli-rice consumption. Soon enough unli rice ban went trending on Twitter.
Senator Villar says that while rice keeps the stomach full, it lacks the proper vitamins the average person needs. She states it is ‘bad for the health’ and suggests that it should be banned. In her defense, she claims that controlled intake of rice can avoid diabetes– an expensive health issue. She also raised the possibility of eating brown rice instead of the conventional one.
As quickly as she mentions the words ‘Unli-rice’ and ‘Ban,’ the Netizens started tweeting.
Netizens on fire after hearing Unli-Rice Ban
As if these netizens had flames around their eyeballs and claws at the tips of their fingers, negative reactions surrounding the Unli-Rice Ban was all one could read about. In Twitter, the hashtags #UnliRice and #UnliRiceBan went trending in the Philippines.
Naturally, the Filipino comic relief will always be present. There are tweets to save unli-rice by retweeting it to gain awareness and cause even more outrage. Unsurprisingly, parody Twitter accounts of famous Fast food chains in the town commented on the debatable issue. This hilarious thread got the crowd more riled up for their food feud.
Meanwhile, there are more sober comments that want to raise the question of why they would ban the ‘one thing that makes them happy.’ Some comment that Senator Villar’s standing in society blinds her from the truth of famine for some Filipinos. They mention her inability to sympathize with the hungry majority who can only sate their hunger through something like Unli-rice in restos.
One netizen pointed that if it really was a health issue, then shouldn’t cigarettes be considered a more dangerous threat? More enraged netizens tell Senator Villar to focus on other ‘more important, more urgent’ priorities such as economic decline, traffic, and the like.
The reactions spread like wildfire among rice-loving Filipinos– AKA everyone– and it put the senator in a bad light. To extinguish the anger, Senator Villar tweets that there will be no Unli-Rice ban of any sort.