For food security: Solon urges House panels to prioritize Magna Carta for agri workers

Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman. INQUIRER file photo / EARVIN PERIAS

MANILA, Philippines — Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman has urged the appropriate House of Representatives panels to prioritize the proposed Magna Carta for Agriculture Workers, saying that the proposal would be key to ensuring food security in the country.

Roman, in a statement on Thursday, said that the House of Representatives should pass House Bill No. 5601, a bill that she filed last October 2022 and was forwarded to the House Committee on agriculture and food last November 2022.

The lawmaker said that her bill would institutionalize several measures that would help farmers and fisherfolk — like registering workers under the Kadiwa program and formulating a farm-to-market roadmap to help mobilize food products.

“By helping out the agri workers, we make food security strong, and if we have the products, people can buy cheaper by patronizing our own agri products,” Roman explained.

“Panahon na para gawin nating prayoridad na mapabuti ang sitwasyon ng ating mga magsasaka at mangingisda,” said Roman.

(It is time for us to prioritize these measures to improve the lives of our farmers and fisherfolk.)

Under the bill, there would also be a Supply Chain Redundancy Plan, where transportation, logistics, and infrastructure systems would be attuned to the country’s agricultural policies while maximizing existing systems to reduce costs and travel time.

This means that if prices of goods are brought down due to lower external and internal costs, people can buy more products — ensuring that the population would have access to food.

It would also help farmers as they will not have to contend with the high prices needed for producing and delivering their produce.

Roman said that based on her conversations with agricultural sectors in a consultative assembly in Cebu province and the latest numbers from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), farmers and fisherfolk are one of the poorest sectors in the country.

READ: When those who feed the nation are the poorest: Farmers, fisherfolk in deepest poverty pit 

READ: PH farms getting empty: Agriculture job loss a worrying trend 

She stated that based on the PSA’s 2021 poverty statistics, fisherfolk have the highest poverty rate at 30.6 percent, followed by farmers at 30 percent.

“It is highly unacceptable that farmers and fisherfolks are still barely surviving despite us being considered as (an) agricultural country,” she noted.

Other lawmakers have filed similar bills in the 19th Congress: last August 5, AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Lex Anthony Colada filed House Bill No. 3251, which calls for a Magna Carta of Agricultural Development Workers.

And just this March 6, Probinsyano Ako Rep. Rudys Caesar Fariñas filed House Bill No. 7471, or the proposed Magna Carta of Small Farmers.  All are pending with the House Committee on agriculture and food.

JPV/abc