Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan called on national government offices, agencies, and local government units to stop buying imported rice and instead purchase directly from local producers.

Pangilinan said this is in a bid to help improve the livelihoods of Filipino rice farmers.

The senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, welcomed the support of key government officials and local chief executives during a meeting with the Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Agriculture, lawmakers, and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) on 9 October.

“As far as government purchases of rice are concerned, it has to be locally produced rice. Government corporations, agencies, and local governments should not buy imported rice—they should buy local,” Pangilinan reiterated.

This comes amid the senator’s appeal to Malacañang to issue executive orders setting a minimum floor price for wet and dry palay in government purchases.

Pangilinan argued that setting a floor price for palay in government purchases will stabilize the incomes of farmers, who have been forced to sell palay for an average of P7.66 per kilo—way below the production cost of P13.51 per kilo, according to the senator.

He also pointed out that government agencies and instrumentalities can provide the biggest market access to local food producers, such as farmers and fisherfolk.

This falls in line with his 2019 Sagip Saka Act, the landmark law he authored and passed to allow all national government offices, agencies, and local government units to purchase produce directly from farmers and fisherfolk without public bidding.

The law aims to improve the livelihood of farmers and fisherfolk by providing them direct access to government food purchases amounting to an estimated P150 billion annually.

Pangilinan said state colleges and universities, military camps, jails, and social amelioration programs must source their food directly from local agricultural workers under the Sagip Saka law.

Earlier, Pangilinan stressed the need for the executive and legislative branches of government to work together to achieve food security and rural development, as well as uplift the welfare of farmers and fisherfolk.

This follows his campaign message of “Walang kulay ang gutom” (Hunger has no color) as he aims to address the pressing issues of hunger and food insecurity.

He explained that the government must take the lead in empowering farmers and saving them from abusive trade practices by fully implementing the Sagip Saka law.