INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The unspent funds of the Department of Agriculture (DA) could have been used to provide subsidies to 653,000 farmers and fisherfolk who have been clamoring for aid after their livelihood was affected by the pandemic, a progressive group said.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya’s (Pamalakaya) statement came after the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that the DA returned P9.8 billion in unused funds to the National Treasury under its annual budget last year, or 17 percent of the DA’s P59 billion budget.
Pamalakaya, along with other rural-based progressive groups, have been asking for a P15,000 subsidy from the government to support them amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group said the production subsidy would be apportioned mostly for fuel expenses that eat up almost 80 percent of a regular fishing trip.
A bill providing production subsidy has yet to gain ground in Congress.
“The production subsidy that we have been seeking could have stimulated the production of more than 600,000 rural-based food producers. This also means that unstable food supply and prices in the market could have been avoided if only the government heeded the demand of the country’s food security front-liners for livelihood subsidy and aid,” said Fernando, national chair of Hicap Pamalakaya.
According to the COA, there were 379 accounts totaling P32.36 billion that lack records or do not have subsidiary ledgers.