Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva yesterday filed a resolution seeking a legislative inquiry into the status of the country’s food security.
“A more strategic and comprehensive plan, containing measurable and time-bound objectives, is necessary to further strengthen and expedite the realization of our goal,” Villanueva said in his proposed Senate Resolution 385.
“Despite efforts made by the government agencies at the forefront of achieving food security in the Philippines, particularly the Department of Agriculture, hunger incidence and the rising food prices in the country are still on alarming levels,” he added.
Rising prices of food is the biggest driver of inflation in the country, Villanueva said, noting the inflation rate of 8 percent in November 2022—the highest since November 2008.
Meanwhile, Agriculture officials underscored the need to balance rice imports and local production following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s approval of the extension of Executive Order 171 that modified tariff rates for some imported agricultural commodities.
At a press conference, agriculture officials said the move intends to prevent higher food inflation.
“The President signed and ordered last week containing the provisions of EO 171, and it would continue up to December 2023. I agree with that. But it has to be semestral in nature, and on that basis, sync to the harvesting. Beginning January, February, and March, we shall not be issuing any special permit to import,” Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said.
“We have to balance all of these with imports. We are trying to balance importation as well as production so that we can stabilize the prices, lower the prices,” Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla added.
Contrary to several statements, the Department of Agriculture assured consumers there will be no supply shortage of rice next year despite the decrease in rice inventory.
“There will be a lot of rice in the country. A lot of importation by the private sector which is not authorized by the department has been confiscated quite recently, and on that aspect, we shall not be importing rice up to next year or the first quarter of next year,” Panganiban said.
Under next year’s proposed budget, the rice program fund will be doubled to P30 billion from this year’s P15 billion while P5 billion will be allocated for high-value crops and corn.
The DA targets to reach at least 20.5 million metric tons of rice production for next year.
Senators have mixed reactions to the extension of EO 171.
Sen. JV Ejercito said it was “a welcome development” to lower prices of basic commodities but it has to be reviewed periodically.
“These are just temporary solutions,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said: “Looks like we have no choice as of the moment because we don’t produce enough food for our people.”
Sen. Grace Poe underscored the need to take an honest look at EO 171 to see if it achieved its goals of lowering prices.
She said various agriculture groups have already pointed out that rice from outside of ASEAN, specifically Pakistan, can still come in at lower prices even without bringing down the tariff.
The Federation of Free Farmers and SINAG have also raised concerns on the revenue loss to government.
“We need to see if there was profiteering. SINAG has been complaining of the drop in farmgate prices of pork, yet retail prices were hardly moving,” Poe said.