Release P6 billion fund for rice farmers — DOF, DA urged

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Francis Pangilinan urged yesterday the Departments of Finance (DOF) and Agriculture (DA) to release the P6-billion cash compensation for rice farmers this December.

At the bicameral confer­ence committee meeting on the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020, the former food security secretary said, “Let this (P6 billion) be our Christmas gift to our rice farmers devastated by the flood of imported rice. They need this reparation now.”

The senator started to sound the alarm on the plight of Filipino rice farmers last August during a privilege speech, where he proposed several measures to ensure that they will survive the dev­astating effects of the flood of imported rice.

Pangilinan last month filed a bill seeking to augment the 2019 budget with P6 billion to immediately provide uncon­ditional cash transfer to rice farmers from unprogrammed funds in the 2019 national budget.

Senate Bill 1191 proposed a P6-billion supplemental bud­get from the unprogrammed 2019 budget for direct cash transfers to vulnerable rice farmers who are planting one hectare or less, “as compensa­tion for the reduction or loss of farm income arising from the influx of imported rice.”

Of the country’s 2.11 mil­lion rice farmers, 1.14 million plant at most one hectare of land. However, according to DOF, only 416,972 are in provinces that experienced an income loss of at least P2 per kilo. DOF will decide on the actual number of farmers who will be compensated.

The cash transfer will give them a lifeline to continue farming while the government tries its best to fix the law, he said, referring to Republic Act 11203 – or the Rice Tariffication Act – which imposes a mini­mum 35 percent tariff on rice imports in lieu of quantitative restrictions (QRs).

The liberalization of rice imports, while intended to give the country a steady sup­ply, has led to declining palay farmgate prices in many rice-producing areas.

Eight months since the passage of the law, farmgate prices of palay have plunged to as low as P7 to P10 per kilo in some provinces, while the price of rice dropped by 2.9 percent and the price of palay by 17.48 percent.

The drop in the farmgate price of palay has resulted in huge income losses for rice farmers and the industry, now estimated at around P60 bil­lion, and projected to double by yearend, he warned.

Pangilinan said releases from the proposed supple­mental fund will be made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) directly to the DA, which shall make the fund available to the farmers.

The fund will be valid until Dec. 31, 2020.

Earlier, both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading their respective bills extending the validity of the 2019 budget until Dec. 31, 2020.

This would allow agencies to spend funds for capital outlays and maintenance and other operating expenses in the 2019 budget until next year.

According to Pangilinan’s bill, the DBM will submit to Congress and the Commission on Audit a quarterly report on the utilization of funds.

At the House in November, Quezon City Rep. Christopher Belmonte also filed House Bill 5629 as a counterpart measure, saying that the cash compen­sation will encourage rice farmers to continue farming.

“The damage to their liveli­hood is not our farmers’ fault. We need to save our rice farm­ers because if not, all of us who consume rice will, in the end, suffer and face rice short­age,” Pangilinan said.