Agri chief pushes to restore NFA power to buy, sell

Metro Manila, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. appealed to lawmakers Wednesday, Dec. 11, to restore the power of the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy and sell rice to stabilize supply and prices.

Laurel said the rice tariffication law (RTL) has limited the NFA to buffer stocking.

“We cannot even sell our rice to LGUs (local government units) or our own Kadiwa [stores] at a reasonable price,” the secretary said during the third hearing of five House of Representatives committees, which has been branded “Murang Pagkain Super Committee.”

“Ang primary mission na lang ng DA (Department of Agriculture), kasi tinanggalan ng powers ang NFA, is to produce more and make the farmers profitable,” he said.

[Translation: Since the NFA lost its power, the DA’s primary mission is to produce more and make the farmers profitable.]

“Hindi po ba pwedeng executive order lang ng pangulo to do that to give instruction habang nag-aantay tayo ng batas? Kasi kung aantayin natin ang batas baka patay na tayo lahat, eh, kaka-review lang ng RTL,” House Deputy Majority Leader and ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo said.

[Translation: Can an executive order cover that and give instruction while waiting for a law? Because if we wait for a law, we might be dead already, especially that the RTL has just gone through a review.]

Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, lead chairperson, told the DA legal team to study existing laws in the meantime.

Laurel said stripping NFA of power to sell rice made it difficult for the agency to intervene amid high prices of the staple.

“Kung maibabalik sana ang kapangyarihan ng NFA with the authority of the DA secretary, mas magiging epektibo ang DA sa pagsupil sa pang-aabuso ng rice traders at mas maiimpluwensiyahan natin ang presyo ng bigas,” Laurel said.

[Translation: If the power of NFA is restored, with the authority of the DA secretary, the DA will be more effective to stop the abuse of rice traders and influence more rice prices.]

“May benefits din pero [There were benefits but] in extreme situations, definitely, it failed but in a normal course of the year, it should have been good,” Laurel told reporters of the RTL, which was enacted in 2019.

The DA was recently present at some major public markets in Metro Manila to sell P40 per kilogram of rice under its “Rice for All” program.

But lawmakers wanted the cheaper P29 per kg of aging rice stocks from NFA to be sold in public markets as well.

As of Dec. 7, DA price monitoring showed local regular milled rice were sold in Metro Manila markets as high as P48 per kg, while other varieties go up to P60 per kg.