Pangilinan eyes stronger collab to safeguard agri sector

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan called for a unified national strategy between the executive and legislative branches to safeguard the agricultural sector and resolve the issues facing it.

Speaking during the organizational meeting of the Development Budget Coordination Committee on the Proposed 2026 National Expenditure Program on Monday, Pangilinan underscored the most pressing needs of the agricultural sector—stabilize the food value chain, lower the prices of food in the market, increase the income of farmers and fisherfolk, and strengthen local agricultural production.

He noted that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. himself has put agriculture front and center of his priorities, recognizing its importance during his last State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“We have this window in the next three years to put together structural reforms in the agri and fisheries sector, address the challenges, modernize, finally, our agri and fisheries,” the senator told officials of different government agencies.

“So, the next three years are crucial, and I will need your support in the executive department," he added.

Pangilinan — now the chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform and was previously the Aquino administration’s food security czar from May 2014 to October 2015 – recalled his own experiences on how he was able to bring down food prices and nationwide inflation.

“We put in place all these interventions, and by September 2015, it was the lowest inflation rate nationwide in 20 years, because, of course, there are several factors, but we dropped rice prices, inflation, and were able to manage it with a slew of interventions,” he said.

The senator was referring to how he rejected overpriced imported rice, stabilized prices by leveraging the National Food Authority’s (NFA) buffer stocks, and went after smugglers and hoarders during his time as food security secretary.

Under his tenure, he brought down rice inflation to just 0.8% and overall inflation to 1.5 percent, the lowest in 20 years.

“And I know those interventions would not have been possible without the support of the executive department, and the President, and, of course, legislation. So, that's how we're going to fix what's broken in agri, but we will need your support,” he stressed.