PALAYAN CITY – Senatorial aspirant and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos branded as a “shame” the massive importation of rice after an era of the country being a top producer of the staple.
Speaking before members of the Butil Partylist at the Nueva Ecija Convention Center here Friday afternoon, Marcos said unlimited importation of grains means that the Filipinos have surrendered in producing rice to feed themselves.
“Dati-rati tayo ang hinahangaan ng mundo,” she said, saying that foreigners used to study and learn rice and corn production in the country.
The Philippines, she said, started exporting rice in 1978. “Ngayon kilala tayo bilang largest importer of rice sa buong mundo.”
“Ang laking pagbabago, ang laking kahihiyan,” Marcos lamented. Marcos, whose province has been heavily devastated by typhoons such as Ompong that hit Central and Northern Luzon this year, then urged the government to create more support to farmers.
Funds being siphoned by the Department of Social Welfare and Development for its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (conditional cash transfer) and the Department of Public Works and Highway’s Tupad might as well be used to help agriculture workers, she said.
Marcos also pressed for a staggered rice tarification program, the measure that liberalizes importation of rice by the private sector.
“Alam ko na panahon na para magkaroon ng tarifi cation pero huwag naman ganitong bibiglain at papatayin naman ang mga magsasaka. Hindi ka pupuwedeng uncompetitive isang araw, bukas makalawa competitive ka na,” Marcos said.
The playing field between Filipino farmers and their counterparts in Vietnam and Thailand has not been level.
“Ang totoo ang Pilipino P12.50 ang kada kilo ng palay para makapg produce paano. mo ihahambing yan sa Vietnam P6 lang, ang Thailand ay P8 lang,” Marcos said.
President Duterte is expected to sign anytime the rice tariffication bill which the Congress recently passed. The chief executive certified the bill as urgent last October.
Once the bill was signed into law, the National Food Authority will be stripped of its power to import and distribute cheaper rice. Instead, the controversial agency will have to only keep buff er stocks for emergency purposes and buying palay from local farmers.
