Marcoleta flags agri law failures, land loss
‘They found a way to get around it. The loans were given to borrowers who were supposedly involved in agriculture. That’s where the money went, which is why so many warehouses ended up being built.’
Daily Tribune‘They found a way to get around it. The loans were given to borrowers who were supposedly involved in agriculture. That’s where the money went, which is why so many warehouses ended up being built.’
Senate Deputy Majority Leader Rodante D. Marcoleta called on Congress to exercise its oversight powers more vigorously to address the worsening plight of Filipino farmers and help revive the struggling agriculture sector.
During his interpellation following the privilege speech delivered by Senator Raffy Tulfo, Marcoleta — a lawyer and son of a farmer from Paniqui, Tarlac — highlighted the government’s failure to implement several progressive agricultural laws already in place.
“We have a law which mandates that we provide a guaranteed price for palay (unmilled rice),” Marcoleta said, which has yet to materialize.
“Let us revisit that,” he said.
He cited recent complaints by farmers in Tarlac and Pampanga who are reeling from the low buying price of palay, now reportedly as low as P7 to P8 per kilo for fresh harvest and P11 to P12 per kilo for dried palay.
“They were on the verge of crying,” he said.
He decried the cheap, imported rice that continues to flood local markets under Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law, squeezing local farmers out of business.
He also highlighted the non-implementation of a law mandating the local manufacture of farm machinery and equipment, saying the country continues to import instead of supporting domestic production.
Another critical law, the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (RA 8435), which aims to preserve and protect agricultural lands from conversion has also been widely disregarded, he noted.
“The Fisheries and Agriculture Modernization Act mandates the dedication of suitable lands for cultivation,” he pointed out. It prohibits the easy conversion or reclassification of agricultural lands.
“Now land reclassification and conversion are happening left and right. One day, we might wake up and realize there’s no land left to plant on — not even for water spinach (kangkong),” he warned.
Marcoleta also raised the issue of the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act of 2009 (RA 10000) which requires banks to allocate 25 percent of their loanable funds to agricultural and agrarian reform beneficiaries. He lamented that financial institutions had found loopholes to circumvent this requirement.
“They found a way to get around it. The loans were given to borrowers who were supposedly involved in agriculture. That’s where the money went, which is why so many warehouses ended up being built,” he said.
To ensure a sustained government focus on agriculture, Marcoleta proposed creating a permanent commission on agriculture, similar to the Edcom 2 for education.
This body, he said, could monitor the country’s rice self-sufficiency efforts, the role of the National Food Authority and address problems like rice hoarding, smuggling, and unregulated importation.