A party-list lawmaker on Monday blamed the National Food Authority for the sky-rocketing price of rice.
By airing baseless claims of a rice crisis, the NFA precipitated the drastic increase in the price of commercial rice, Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said.
At the same time, Casilao questioned the proposal of the National Food Authority to sell its cheapest rice at P32 per kilo, which is still more expensive than the present P27 it offers.
Casilao likened the plan to a food embargo because he said, “it denies the poor access to affordable basic commodities that include rice.”
The lawmaker also said that NFA has to explain why it let its affordable rice supply disappear as well as justify its rush to import rice.
Moreover, Casilao also criticized Agriculture Secretary Emanuel Piñol for opting to utilize land in Papua Guinea to produce rice for local consumption.
He said that this move was not only an insult to our local farmers but also an apparently clear manifestation of how the administration views the agriculture industry.
The Philippines has almost four million hectares of agricultural lands that can produce all the food needs of the country if properly utilized, Casilao said.
Casilao also dismissed as “anti-farmer” and “anti-poor” the government’s continuing rice import.
“Putting the NFA rice price to P32 will further deny poor Filipinos access to food. The Duterte government is further emptying the pockets of the poor as the Train Law is reducing the purchasing power not only of the working class, the poor and even the middle class into triviality because of unabated increase on prices of basic commodities and services,” Casilao said.