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Almost halfway into the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his campaign promise of bringing rice to P20 per kilo remains an “aspiration”, and nowhere near reality.

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Marcos 07162024

Jervis Manahan

ABS-CBN News

<div><br/></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1721126143898Marcos-07162024.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=" Almost halfway into the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his campaign promise of bringing rice to P20 per kilo remains an “aspiration”, and nowhere near reality."/></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA - Almost halfway into the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his campaign promise of bringing rice to P20 per kilo remains an “aspiration”, and nowhere near reality.</p><p>This comes as the price of rice in the world market soared to a 15-year high, mostly due to reduced exports from India and the threat of El Niño.</p><p>In September last year, rice prices skyrocketed to around P60 per kilo. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, rice inflation hit 22.5 percent in June this year, only slightly lower compared to the previous month.</p><p>The high price of rice poses a big challenge to the government, and surveys showed controlling inflation remains the biggest concern of Filipinos.</p><p>Because of this, the Department of Agriculture tried to execute several policies to bring down the price of rice–from imposing price caps to lowering tariffs.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S8EAcvjyAMg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>ABS-CBN News talked to policy experts and farmers to discuss and analyze the current state of agriculture in the country, zooming in on rice, ahead of Marcos Jr’s third State of the Nation Address.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>MARCOS AS AGRI SECRETARY<br/></strong></div><p>Marcos himself assumed the agriculture portfolio in the first year of his presidency and the budget for the department significantly increased.</p><p>&quot;When Marcos administration started out, there was a lot of hope because he assumed direct leadership in agriculture. Definitely, that signaled that it was among his highest priorities–in fact, one of his legacies,” said Dr. Roehlano Briones, Senior Research Fellow of the Agriculture and Food Security Cluster of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.</p><p>Briones noted that the DA was given “all-time high budgets.&quot;</p><p>&quot;It allotted a lot of budget to the rice programs. So in 2024, we have P70 billion for NIA [National Irrigation Administration], P30 billion for rice, of which P9 billion is just for fertilizer subsidies. A lot of attention became devoted to rice,&quot; he added.</p><p>But Professor Luisito Abueg of the College of Economics and Management of UP Los Banos said initial policies on the sector seem to be mixed.</p><p>&quot;Parang mixed signals sya eh, may polisiya na nase-sense na papunta sa mga magsasaka. Minsan naman parang saliwa,&quot; he said.</p><p>(It seems like there were mixed signals. There were policies that in a sense were geared toward farmers. But some policies were not.)</p><p>He pointed to the move of the National Food Authority to raise its buying price for locally-grown rice as pro-farmer. The push to cut tariffs on imported rice meanwhile would hurt farmers.</p><p>Problems continued to beset the sector such as El Niño, the low price of palay, and the high price of rice in the international market</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>‘FULL-TIME’ AGRI CHIEF APPOINTED</strong></div><p>In November 2023, President Marcos appointed a full-time Secretary to focus on solving agricultural issues and boosting food security.</p><p>Fishing tycoon Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. took the helm, facing the huge challenges of both El Niño and soaring world market prices.</p><p>Less than a year after assuming office, Tiu Laurel said that due to these issues, simply keeping current production levels was already a feat.</p><p>&quot;I think maintaining our production lang is already an achievement. May bawas konti pero (There’s a bit of shortfall but) that alone is enough like last year,&quot; Tiu Laurel said.</p><p>The new Agriculture chief acknowledged that production was slightly higher when the President was in charge of the Department. But he said this was an act of God which was hard to follow.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>PRICE CEILING</strong></div><p>In September 2023, the Department of Agriculture imposed price caps on rice as a stop-gap measure to temper rising prices.</p><p>This put a price cap of P41 per kilo for regular-milled rice and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice.  </p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BnWwX2ljI0M?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>At that time, the prevailing cost of rice was about P52 pesos per kilo, which meant retailers lost P7 pesos for each kilo of rice they sold.</p><p>&quot;One of the efforts last year was to impose a rice price ceiling–something that the average economist would probably not be in favor of. And indeed, within a month, it was withdrawn,&quot; Briones said.</p><p>Several rice retailers claimed the policy led to huge losses, prompting government agencies to distribute financial assistance to registered retailers.</p><p>&quot;Ang mangyayari, ibababa mo yung presyo ng produktong agrikultural. Hindi lahat willing magtinda. Hindi naco-compensate nung presyo ang gastos ng mga magsasaka. Hindi na sila magbebenta or worse, magce-create ng black market,&quot; he added.</p><p>(What will happen is you&#x27;ll force the price of agricultural products down. Not everyone will be willing to sell as the retail price does not compensate for the production costs. They will no longer sell, or worse, lead to the creation of a black market.)</p><p>The policy was lifted a month after implementation.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>REDUCTION OF TARIFFS </strong></div><p>Despite opposition from farmers’ groups, President Marcos also signed Executive Order 36, lowering the tariffs for imported rice to 15 percent from the current rate of 35 percent.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VGIsDDWz-bY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>The government hopes this will lead to lower retail prices for imported rice. Briones said the tariffs could have been cut further.</p><p>&quot;They could have driven it to zero or 10 percent. But 15 percent, it&#x27;s [a] significant cut but also [a] significant level of protection,&quot; he added.</p><p>However, a broad alliance of farmer groups questioned the Executive Order in the Supreme Court, posing legal challenges to the measure.</p><p>So far, the Supreme Court has not issued a temporary restraining order against the EO.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>BIGAS 29</strong></div><p>Another effort to bring down rice prices was the launch of the P29/kilo rice program known as Bigas 29. This is exclusive to the vulnerable sectors in Kadiwa Stores in Metro Manila and Bulacan.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0c2QgoUUccs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>This is available for low-income families such as the beneficiaries of the 4Ps or conditional cash grants program, PWDs, senior citizens, and solo parents. The initial supply will come from aging but still edible rice buffer stocks of the NFA.</p><p>The Department of Agriculture said the sale of P29/kilo rice is eyed to be a long-term program lasting until the end of the Marcos administration.</p><p>&quot;Ang pressing concern lagi ay inflation, saka maidagdag ko, ang presyo ng bigas. Significant ang component sa ating CPI–consumer price index–ang galaw ng presyo ng bigas at galaw ng presyo ng CPI, medyo hawig,&quot; Abueg said.</p><p>(The pressing concern is inflation and if I may add, the price of rice is a significant part of our consumer price index.)</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>OTHER ISSUES</strong></div><p>Tiu Laurel himself admitted having to face a 27-year backlog in agriculture, particularly in mechanization, and the modernization of systems to increase productivity.</p><p>&quot;Ang pinaka issue talaga ng sektor ay productivity, kasi yung ating ways ng ating pagtatanim ay hindi umuusad. Yung mechanization hindi kumakagat sa baba. Gumagawa tayo bagong variety at technology pero ending, manu-mano pa rin pagtatanim. Nai-improve pero konti, and naco-convert mga lupa to other use, so nababawasan,&quot; Abueg said.</p><p>(The foremost issue of the sector is productivity as our way of planting has not moved forward. Mechanization has yet to be adopted at the grassroots. We innovate but the technology does not get transferred to actual farmers. We improve a bit, but lands also get converted to other uses, so the land devoted to agriculture gets reduced.)</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BlV2i9dqjCw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>The aging population of farmers and fisherfolk also pose problems, as the number of younger farmers dwindles.</p><p>&quot;Yung bagong henerasyon, mga anak ng mga magsasaka, ayaw na nila magsaka, kasi tingin sa pagsasaka, ay napaka abang trabaho,&quot; Abueg added.</p><p>(The new generation, the children of farmers do not want to go to farming anymore, because they look at it as a very lowly job.)</p><p>Experts said a more comprehensive plan and execution must be done to address issues in agriculture and help alleviate prices.</p><p>&quot;Kailangan ang pananaw mo%- sa pagsasaka ay farm-to-table, mula sa pagpupunla at pagsasaing. Kailangan yung tahi ng programa ay buo, hindi tumitingin ka lang sa sector. Ang dating ng polisiya ay band-aid solution,&quot; Abueg said.</p><p>(A holistic perspective on agriculture is needed that is farm-to-table, from planting to cooking. The program should be comprehensive and doesn’t consider just a sector. The old policies were band-aid solutions.)</p><p>&quot;We need to transform it, value chain by value chain,” Briones said.</p><p>He said the move to amend, extend and improve the Rice Tariffication Law is a key policy reform.</p><p>“This sends [a] signal that the administration is serious in pursuing deep policy reform fundamentals for the sector,&quot; Briones said.</p><p>But the big question remains, is the goal of lowering the price of rice to P20/kilo still feasible?</p><p>&quot;Given the public funds that are needed to achieve this, this will require heavy subsidies, probably the public treasury will not be able to bear it, not feasible in that sense,&quot; Briones ended.</p><p>As for the government’s part?</p><p>“It remains our aspiration. Adhikain pa rin natin ito (It is still our goal),” said Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa.</p>

<p>Almost halfway into the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his campaign promise of bringing rice to P20 per kilo remains an “aspiration”, and nowhere near reality.</p>

P20 kilo rice? Marcos promise weighed vs inflation as SONA nears

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P20 kilo rice? Marcos promise weighed vs inflation as SONA nears

Jervis Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 16, 2024 06:35 PM PHT

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Updated Jul 16, 2024 07:59 PM PHT

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