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

Pangilinan said this was a bid to improve the livelihood of Filipino rice farmers.

Pangilinan, chair of 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 stressed.

Minimum floor price

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

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

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

This aligns with his 2019 Sagip Saka Act, the landmark law he authored which allows all national government offices, agencies and local government units to purchase produce from farmers and fisherfolk without a public bidding.