A change in leadership in PhilMech now does not appear to be practical due to its sterling performance, especially with regards to its Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program that improves Filipino rice farmers’ competitiveness and income amid the liberalization of our Philippine rice trade policy, said Sen. Cynthia A. Villar.
Since its implementation, Villar said RCEF under the leadership of PhilMech Director Dr. Baldwin Jallorina, has consistently enabled the government to provide farmers with modern machinery that significantly increased their yields and sustained the growth in agricultural production.
Villar, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, stressed that President Rodrigo Duterte, in his 2021 State of the Nation Address (SONA), commended RCEF because it stabilized rice supply and food prices.
But PhilMech is currently confronted with the impending replacement of Jallorina.
While emphasizing that she recognizes and respects that appointments made by the President are his exclusive prerogatives, Villar said that “replacing the leadership of Jallorina disregards all that has been achieved by PhilMech, which he led passionately, within a short span of time. “
“The implementation of RCEF has been doing well because of all the agencies and people especially Dr. Jallorina, comprising the components,” said Villar.
The senator said the mandate of agricultural mechanization was given to PhilMech, to which 50 percent of the RCEF is allocated.
PhilMech under Jallorina, Villar also pointed out, was able to accomplish 82.75 percent of their targets by distributing various farm machinery equipment to qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCA).
In effect, it benefitted at least 1.35 million farmer-members of 5,314 Farmers Coops or Associations and local government units (LGUs), in just three (3) years of implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) from 2019-2021.
To illustrate its effect, Villar related that the rice production level in 2019 was at 18.814 million MT.
However, she said that in 2020 the rice production level rose to 19.4 million metric tons, and 19.96 million metric tons in 2021.
“It is clear that this has contributed to increase in production, and has led to a significant drop in inflation because the price of rice in the market was stable,” said Villar, adding that this all happened under the administration of Jallorina.
Furthermore, Villar said the issue of removing Jallorina at PhilMech comes at a crucial time when the ban on midnight appointments is about to take effect.
The Court also held that an appointment can be made only to a vacant office. An appointment cannot be made to an occupied office. The incumbent must first be legally removed, or his appointment validly terminated or resigned, before one could be validly installed to succeed him.
“Dr. Jallorina has not been removed, nor his appointment validly terminated. Neither has he resigned. We are unaware of any complaint or issues presently lodged against him,” Villar said.