LP solons want RCEF funds, tariffs given as direct cash transfers to farmers

A farmer tills a ricefield using a hand tractor in Bulacan on Sunday, February 17, 2019. President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law the Rice Tariffication Bill on Friday, February 15, 2019. Local farmers opposed the bill, fearing it would flood the market with cheaper rice from abroad, affecting the livelihood and welfare of 2.4 million rice farmers and farm workers. GMA News

Authored by 16 LP congressmen, Joint Resolution 15 was filed as palay prices continued to drop— supposedly due to the law, causing rice farmers to lose income.

“We have to immediately switch gears now that it is evident that the RCEF, as it is, is not enough to cushion the effects of the Rice Tariffication Law,” said Marikina Representative Stella Luz Quimbo.

“What our farmers need is immediate cash assistance, not loans that will only add burden to the smallholder farmers,” she added.

Under the Rice Tariffication Law, a P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) will help the livelihood of local farmers. Of the amount, P5 billion will be allotted to farm mechanization, P3 billion to seedlings, and P1 billion to expanded rice credit assistance.

According to the joint resolution, P10 billion was appropriated for RCEF as unprogrammed funds under the 2019 General Appropriations Act.

The Department of Budget and Management confirmed in an earlier Senate hearing that a fund balance of P4 billion is available for disbursement, while the Bureau of Customs said P9.19 billion has been collected so far as tariff revenue from imported rice since March 5 to August 31 this year.

“We see no reason why we can’t use this P13 billion to immediately give aid to our farmers who need it the most. There is no point in earning from imports if our people won’t benefit from it, especially the most affected,” Quimbo said.

A counterpart measure was filed by Senator Francis Pangilinan, the party's president, at the Senate, amending the Rice Tariffication Law and allowing P13 billion of immediate cash assistance to farmers.

There are two possible sources of direct cash transfer to farmers, Pangilinan noted: the fund balance of P4 billion of the P10 billion under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund from the unprogrammed appropriations of 2019, and P9.19 billion in tariff revenue from rice importation since March 5, 2019 to August 31, 2019.

“Kailangan ng paspasang solusyon sa hinaharap ngayon ng ating mga magsasaka. Maaaring para sa atin ay maliit lang ang limang piso, pero ang limang pisong ito ang magtatakda kung makakakain ba o magugutom ang ating mga magsasaka,” said Occidental Mindoro Representative Josephine Ramirez-Sato.

While the Department of Agriculture has intervened by giving P15,000 loan to farmers tilling one hectare of land and smaller lots, the LP lawmakers said this will only help 100,000 of the 2.11 million rice farmers affected by the law.

“There is no point to interventions that will benefit only a small portion of those affected. We need something direct, immediate, and large-scale,” Sato said.

The joint resolution needs the approval of both houses of Congress and the signature of the President in order to become a law.

“We see this as an opportunity to band together and show solidarity with our farmers. We hope that all sectors of government share our vision,” Quezon City Representative Jose Christopher Belmonte, the party’s secretary general, said.

“Nananawagan kami sa aming kapwa mambabatas para sa kagyat na pag-apruba sa resolution na ito. Kailangan nating magkaisa sa lalong madaling panahon upang masigurong hindi magugutom ang ating mga magsasaka,” he added.

The Rice Tariffication Law liberalized rice importation as long as traders secure phytosanitary permits from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35-percent tariff on shipments from Southeast Asia. —VDS, GMA News