DA asks Marcos for buffer fund for buying rice, basic commodities

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said it has asked President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to grant the agency a buffer fund that it can use to buy rice and other basic commodities which will be later sold at lower prices.

DA Assistant Secretary and lawyer Paz Benavidez II made the announcement during a public hearing conducted by the House agriculture and food committee as House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo repeatedly asked the agency to make the National Food Authority (NFA) rice, which is the cheapest, available in the market.

Tulfo said the DA should find ways to do this, given that the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) prohibits the NFA from selling the cheapest rice and only limits NFA’s mandate to keeping sufficient buffer stock of rice.

“The DA has this initiative using the Price Act. If you look at the Price Act, there’s Section 9 that allows the DA to have a buffer fund, for the DA to procure or import rice or any other agriculture prime commodities and basic necessities. The Secretary already signed the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) [on us using a buffer fund for this],” Benavidez told lawmakers.

Benavidez said that once the President approves the said IRR, the DA will have the buffer fund that the agency can use to buy rice, corn and other sensitive products for stockpiling as provided by DA’s mandate.

She said these stockpiles of rice and corn, among others, will then be released to Kadiwa stores and other retail markets in the event that there is price manipulation.

“We will have the buffer fund, and we will make sure that sensitive products, including rice and corn. We cannot directly involve the NFA [in selling rice] because there is still a question whether the NFA can sell, but we included [in our prepared IRR] that the NFA can sell rice to Kadiwa [booths] on the condition of the Price Act...to address unreasonable prices and address hoarding and price manipulation,” Benavidez said.

“The condition provided by the Price Act is if there is unreasonable pricing. Because for the NFA, their buffer stock is for emergencies, calamities, not manipulation of prices. It is stated there [in the IRR] that upon determination of the local price council, the DA can release the stockpiles for sale, sa mababang halaga (at low prices), to stabilize the price,” she said.

“The DA has this [IRR prepared], subject to the approval of the President. That is what we are doing right now,” she added.

Tulfo welcomed the DA’s action but maintained that the NFA’s old mandate of selling the cheapest rice in the market should be restored as this is what minimum wage earners and their families look for.

“Kulang po ‘yan. Hindi po lahat ng bayan, may Kadiwa, and Kadiwa is only three or four times a week. As we speak, iyong asawa ng construction worker is going to the market to buy rice for their family,” Tulfo said.

(That is not enough. Not all towns have Kadiwa, and Kadiwa is only three or four times a week. As we speak, the wife of a construction worker is going to the market to buy rice for their family.)

“The NFA should have the power to sell, purchase buffer stock. Nawalan na ng silbi ang NFA, for buffer stock na lang...Eh hindi sa lahat ng pagkakataon, binabagyo tayo,” Tulfo added.

(The NFA lost its relevance, [it has become] for buffer stock only. But it is not all the time that we are hit by storms.)

Tulfo cited the recent NFA controversy wherein the agency was investigated for allegedly selling NFA rice to retailers at a bargain price and with no bidding, but only after stockpiling them for so long.

The NFA, however, has said this transaction with retailers followed proper procedures.

“If these were sold in the market, there would have been no investigation, and the government would have been happy with the NFA,” Tulfo added. —KG, GMA Integrated News