The major problem brought on by the Covid 19 Pandemic is not only avoiding catching the virus, but just surviving.

 

Across SE Asia millions are jobless, and many are relying on free handouts from neighbours or a little cash from their governments.

 

Just to keep your head above water it has meant that everyone has had to be a little creative in finding ways to earn extra cash. Authoritis are also coming up with schemes to encourage locals to get vaccinated as well.

 

In Thailand the are running a lottery to win a cow and in Indonesia they are offering chickens as incentives.

 

For Philippine rice farmers in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur, a little money-making scheme that is doubly beneficial to the entire town.

 

Rat Blanketing

 

Rice field rat, from the image bank of the International Rice Research Institute

 

Dubbed Oplan Rat Blanketing, this scheme awards farmers a bounty of Php7.50 for every severed rat tail they bring to the local government unit.

 

The rat tails are taken as proof that a rat has been killed, in the hope that the incentive would help quell the rat infestation that has apparently plagued the area.

 

This grisly scheme isn’t new—rats-for-money schemes have been popular throughout history.

 

Hanoi Rat Massacre

 

However, it hasn’t always led to the intended results: In Hanoi, Vietnam in 1902, the French colonial government also offered money for every rat tail produced.

 

Known as the Hanoi Rat Massacre, the scheme was initially successful. However, people noticed large numbers of tailless rats in Hanoi.

 

Turns out that the enterprising rat catchers would trap the rats, cut off their tails, and then release the vermin back into the sewers in the hope that they would make more rats, and even more cash for the rat catchers.

 

Obviously, here in the Philippines, this is something nobody wants to happen, especially since we’re still in the middle of our own 21st century plague.

 

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