PRESIDENT Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise of bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo will remain unachievable under his administration even if the country achieves rice sufficiency, an agriculture official told lawmakers yesterday.
Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian told congressmen during the deliberations on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) proposed national budget for 2024 that the price of rice will not go down to as low as P20 even under the best case scenario.
“Not P20 (per kilo) but at least we can maintain a lower price that is affordable. I think our objective should be affordability for our population, Mr. Chair,” Sebastian told the panel chaired by Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), stressing that lowering the price to P20 per kilo would be “difficult.”
The matter was discussed after Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman asked if the P20 per kilo rice, which Marcos Jr. promised during his presidential campaign, will finally happen if the country achieves rice sufficiency.
The President is the concurrent DA secretary.
“Nakasama ba sa road map natin o sa plano yung P20 (per kilo). Kung hindi 2028 (Marcos Jr.’s final year in office), kailan ang projection? Ang mahalaga, nasa plano ng Department of Agriculture (Is the P20 per kilo rice part of our plan or road map? If not by 2028, when is the projection? What’s important is, it’s in the DA’s plans),” asked Hataman, an opposition lawmaker.
Sebastian, however, could not directly answer, prompting the Basilan lawmaker to press for a categorical reply from Sebastian who said that the department cannot promise P20 per kilo although it has been the DA’s “goalpost” and the President’s “aspiration.”
Sebastian candidly said the DA had no discussions on the matter when Isabela Rep. Tonypet Albano asked if achieving rice self-sufficiency would ensure low rice prices.
Sebastian likewise told opposition leader Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman that the price of rice will only stabilize at P45 and P46 a kilo during the harvest period, which Lagman said is still far from P20.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla explained that the spike in local prices is influenced by global prices and high input cost plus the lowering buffer stock.
She said the country is approaching lean months as it has just entered the harvesting period, which will enter its peak sometime in October and the middle of November.
Lagman, a member of the Liberal Party, said that since the campaign promise greatly helped Marcos Jr. win the presidency, spiraling prices of rice “may stagger his incumbency.”
SUPPLY
Sebastian echoed the President’s earlier pronouncement that there is no supply shortage as of now: “When our local supply, Mr. chair, is below the demand, then we would say there is a rice shortage.”
The DA earlier recommended the importation of 500,000 metric tons (MT) of rice to cover crop losses expected to be brought about by the El Niño phenomenon between November and January 2024.
The President has already assured the public that the country has sufficient supply of rice to meet demands even after the El Niño weather phenomenon next year.
But while there is enough supply of rice in the country, the President said he has started talking with the leaders of other nations for a possible importation of rice should the need arise in the future.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza, a senior deputy minority leader, said it is not a sign of “good governance” that the President has not met with his undersecretaries in the DA for the past six months, as revealed by Sebastian.
“Thank you for your honesty. I think that’s one glaring problem. There’s advantages of having the President be the main secretary for a department. But for a department with so many issues and problems, I don’t think it’s good governance, personally,” Daza said.
While he has the highest respect for the President, Daza said he believes that what the country needs is a full-time agriculture secretary, especially now that the country’s rice supply is getting low.
The 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) showed that the DA’s budget has grown by P32 billion since last year when the department only had a P76.15 billion budget.
Under this year’s national budget, the DA was given P101.21 billion and a proposed P108.5 billion in 2024.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela) said the allocated funds for local production, particularly for rice, are significantly inadequate, noting that the National Rice Program will only receive P30.9 billion, while the NFA buffer stocking program is allocated P9 billion.
She also noted that the DA’s loan programs only include the Agricultural Enhancement Fund (P828.72 million), Expanded Rice Credit Assistance (P1 million), and Agricultural Credit Program (P2.82 billion).
These programs fall short in addressing the needs of farmers and promoting sustainable agriculture, Brosas said.
“Year after year, the government provides loans to farmers, but there is no direct production subsidy included in the 2024 budget. This is the only direct assistance that farmers can receive amidst the ongoing crisis and importation, yet the government has been slow in providing it,” she said.
Brosas also questioned the allocation of funds under the Support for Infrastructure Projects and Social Programs (SIPSIP) in the 2022 and 2024 budgets.
In 2022, P13.05 billion was transferred to the DA under SIPSIP, while in 2024, P50.03 billion is allocated to the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs.
She said the transfer of funds were questionable, as they lack detailed reports on how the funds have been utilized.
