MANILA, Philippines — Farmers are still getting low income despite the billions of pesos poured by government in agricultural programs, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan lamented Tuesday.
Pangilinan mentioned Agriculture chief William Dar’s vision on doubling farmers’ income during his privilege speech at the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food’s inquiry on the Rice Tarrification Law.
“Sana sa mga darating na araw, pwede tayo makipagpulong kay Secretary Dar para i-follow through itong ilang mga magiging proposals natin. Maganda yung sinabi nya nung unang hearing na ang kanyang vision ay dumoble ang dagdag na sasahurin o kikitain ng ating mga magsasaka,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan stressed that increased farmers’ income is the benchmark of other countries when government intervenes with the agricultural sector.
“Napakahalaga nun dahil sa ibang bansa, Vietnam, China, Thailand, ang benchmark ng lahat ng kanilang intervention ay kung nadadagdagan ba ang kinikita o sinasahod ng mga magsasaka,” Pangilinan said.
“Dahil kung bilyon nga ang ginagastos natin sa mga iba’t ibang programa ngunit hindi naman dumadagdag ang napupunta sa bulsa ng ating mga magsasaka, anong saysay ng lahat nung mga suporta?” he lamented.
Pangilinan also mentioned the possible release of cash assistance for farmers using the tariffs collected under the said law.
“Yung emergency relief in the form of direct cash assistance base sa batas ‘yung tarrification law, maaari nang magkaroon ng direct cash assistance kapag nabreach na yung 10 billion na nanggagaling sa taripa,” Pangilinan said.
“The question there is, should this provision of the law be amended? Meaning, should we wait for the 10 billion at this time to be breached or not? That’s what we want to know because kailangan nung assistance ngayon,” he continued.
The Senate has continued its investigation on the use of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) as Pangilinan, Senator Cynthia Villar and Senator Ralph Recto sought an investigation into how the fund is being used.
The Department of Agriculture, on the other hand, said the benefits of the P10-billion RCEF will slowly be felt by farmers by yearend until February 2020. /muf
READ: DA says benefits of P10-B farmers’ fund to be felt starting yearend
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