No rice producing country is food self-sufficient without an effective nationwide irrigation program. Despite abundance of water sources, only 20% of the Philippines’s agricultural lands are effectively irrigated, however. Listen as PAKISAMA leader Ireneo Cirilla discusses skewed priorities in the use of the country’s freshwater resources and how big business and traditional politics are misusing it for private profit.
For the first in Philippine electoral history, a genuinely small farmer has declared his candidacy for the Senate in the 2025 national elections. What does Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos and other small family farmers such as Irineo “Ka Rene” Cirilla of PAKISAMA should be the main farmers’ issue in next year’s polls?
By Nuel M. Bacarra
Farmers and fisherfolk greeted new Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. with a rally on his first day in office today, saying they doubt if he intends to properly address problems in the sector.
Appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as his replacement in the agency last Friday, the protesters said nothing in Tiu-Laurel’s background show genuine concern to issues and problems of agriculture.
“Appointing him as the agriculture secretary speaks volumes when it comes to conflict of interest. In fact, he represents big business and the elite. How can we expect him to know the situation of small farmers and fisherfolk who are among the poorest of the poor?” the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said.
The KMP said Marcos’ appointment of Tiu-Laurel is recompense for the latter’s PHP50 million contribution to the former’s campaign for the presidency in 2022.
The farmers’ group added that Tiu-Laurel will only worsen the liberalization of the country’s agriculture sector, particularly in the fishing industry.
A known multi-millionaire, the new DA chief owns and manages global fishing company Frabelle that is involved in deep-sea fishing, aquaculture, food manufacturing, importation, cold storage and trading.
He is also president of Agusan Power Corporation and chairman of World Tuna Purse Seine Organization.
Frabelle is involved in the controversial Manila Bay reclamation projects, particularly in Bacoor, Cavite and Navotas City.
Tiu-Laurel said his main objective at the DA is abundant harvests and ensuring food reaches the tables of Filipino families.
“My goal is to ensure that there is enough and nutritious food that our countrymen could buy at the right price,” he said.
But the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women said that Tiu-Laurel has no intention in ensuring food security based on self-sufficiency and self-reliance because of his big business interests.
“We cannot rely on the new agriculture secretary because he will not listen to solve the problems of the peasantry and fisherfolk about the food and agriculture crises based on his interest,” Amihan president Zenaida Soriano said.
“He will only push through with policies such as the rice liberalization law and excessive importation into the country,” Soriano added.
Soriano pointed out that Tiu-Laurel himself said he will follow what Marcos has done in the President’s 15 months as agriculture chief.
“He (Marcos) had really done nothing! He even made our people even poorer! Prices of commodities soared. The promise of P20-peso (of rice) was not a promise at all but a only dream,” Soriano fumed.
The woman peasant leader said the country can produce its own food requirements if only the government exercises political will to productively utilize the Philippines’ vast fertile lands, its rich seas, forests and other resources.
In this morning’s rally, the protesters said the Marcos Jr. government neglects the preservation of rice lands devoted to food production and stop their conversion to others uses.
The groups said the Marcos government grant sufficient aid and production subsidies to farmers and stop import liberalization and other neoliberal policies.
They added the government must finally enact a genuine agrarian reform and the food security laws that are filed in Congress as House Bill (HB) 1161 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill and HB 405 or the Rice Industry Development Act. #
Farm gate prices of squash have dropped to P3 a kilo in Cotabato ang General Santos cities and a peasants’ group have urged the government to buy them to help farmers.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said tons of squash are being dumped or are being fed to farm animals because of extremely low buying prices.
“The cause of this problem is the lack of marketing and support by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the government for farmers. It is only the private traders who are buying the farmers’ produce,” the KMP said in a statement Thursday, June 8.
The KMP said that if the DA can create the Kadiwa fuel subsidy program for onions, it can also subsidize the procurement of squash from the farmers.
The group added that local government units, the Department of Education and the DA may devise a squash feeding program in public schools.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry may process squash into instant noodles, snacks and others, the KMP said.
Quoting a study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST, KMP said squash is rich with beta carotene and vitamins that are important to children’s nutrition.
“All Filipinos eat squash. There should be no oversupply if only the DA has a marketing assistance plan of our farmers,” KMP chairperson and rice and vegetable farmer Rafael Mariano said.
Mariano said the DA should not blame the farmers who planted squash but the exploitative traders.
“The farm gate price used to be P25 a kilo but it has since droped to P12 and now to P3. The farmers spend almost P50,000 per hectare for squash production per planting season,” Mariano explained. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The country’s biggest peasants’ organization challenged Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food chairperson Senator Villar to act against her own rice tarrification law to prove sincerity in recent pro-farmers pronouncements.
Reacting to the senator’s directives at last Monday’s budget hearing to the Department of Agriculture to realign its 2023 proposed budget to help farmers produce high-quality seeds, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said Villar should instead take a look at her pet rice importation liberalization law.
“Senator Villar can rather show her sincerity by supporting demands to review and repeal RA (Republic Act) 11203 or the rice tariffication law,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a statement Wednesday.
In last Monday’s hearing, Villar castigated DA for its preference for imported hybrid rice seeds over inbred and organic rice seeds, spending P7.9 billion for hybrid seeds distributed to 1.7 million farmers while only spending P3.7 billion for inbred seeds.
Villar also directed the agency to support the use of compost and organic fertilizer over expensive chemical-based fertilizers.
Fertilizer prices increased by up to 22% since 2020, severely affecting rice production and farmers’ incomes, the KMP said.
‘Hypocritical’
The group said that along with the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s Masagana 99 program, the Villar-sponsored rice liberalization program have further made rice farmers’ lives difficult.
“These two programs, implemented more than 40 years apart, have destroyed the lives and livelihood of rice farmers, and further ruined the local rice industry,” the group added.
KMP said hybrid rice propagation was the central component of Martial Law-era Masagana 99 that heavily relied on expensive imported seeds and farm inputs, which left farmers in debt.
“Up to this day, the majority of Filipino rice farmers remain dependent on the practices set by the Green Revolution and Masagana 99,” Ramos said.
Ramos added that the rice liberalization law that Villar principally authored and enacted in 2019 led to heavy income losses for rice farmers amounting to P206 billion in the past three years.
“The failure of RA 11203 is undisputed, the influx of imported rice caused massive bankruptcies among rice farmers, due to depressed farm gate prices,” Ramos said.
Legislators should support the genuine protection and development of the domestic rice industry. Senator Villar will remain hypocritical if she continues to support rice liberalization while espousing to advance local seeds and fertilizer production, Ramos said.
The KMP also challenged Villar to sponsor the Senate version of House Bill 405 Rice Industry Development Act or the Food Self-Sufficiency Act of 2022.
KMP said that an estimated 96% of Filipinos are rice consumers while production involves around 3.8 million rice farmers who cultivate 4.7 million hectares. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) questioned proposed fund cuts for irrigation and equipment procurement for the country’s national rice program in next year’s proposed national budget.
The farmers’ group reported that the Department of Agriculture proposes a P211 million cut in the budget for the Irrigation Network Service from the current P932 million to P721 million in 2023.
The KMP added that the agency, led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself, proposes a 64% budget slash from the current P1.9 billion to P700 million for the Provision of Agricultural Equipment and Facilities of the ongoing National Rice Program.
Likewise, the Extension Support, Education, and Training Services budget for the National Livestock Program will be slashed by P82 million from P611 million to P529 million, the KMP said.
“These are crucial projects, activities, and programs related to the recovery of the slumped rice and livestock sectors. Why impose these budget cuts?” former agrarian reform secretary and KMP’s long-time leader Rafael Mariano asked.
Agri budget for counter-insurgency
In a statement, Mariano also said that the agency must explain why the DA’s proposed 2023 budget seem to prioritize programs that are being used for the government’s counter-insurgency project.
Among these include the budget for the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program proposed to enjoy a P251 million budget increase from P923 million to P1.1 billion next year.
SAAD, however, is not a generic DA project but was created by former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 70 that also created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
“Technically, this budget for SAAD is a budget for counterinsurgency under the guise of social and economic interventions such as social preparation, production and livelihood, marketing assistance and enterprise development. We want to know, how in reality, SAAD aids in poverty alleviation of farmers and fishers when the most basic issues in rural communities are not being addressed,” Mariano said.
More agri budget for Marcos’ home regions
KMP also noted that the DA’s proposed 2023 budget seems to favor Marcos’ home regions, Ilocos and Eastern Visayas. The president’s father, Ferdinand Sr. was from Ilocos Norte while his mother is from Leyte.
“[The KMP finds] it dubious that the DA gave funding preference for the construction, repair and rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads (FMR) in key production areas in known ‘Marcos territories’ like in Regions 1 and 8,” the group said.
From P7.5 billion, the farm-to-market roads budget will increase to P13.1 billion, of which some P1.86 billion will go to Region 1 and P1.41 billion for Region 8, the group reported.
KMP said it identified more than 100 FMR projects in Ilocos Norte and Leyte provinces alone, mostly concreting of barangay roads. Each FMR project ranges from P12 million to P30 million.
KMP added that farm-to-market road projects easily become budget for “farm-to-pockets” operations.
“Sana, hindi tatambakan lang ng graba (gravel) ang isang kilometro ng kalsada tapos tatawagin nang farm-to-market road. Kailangan busisiin ang mga badyet para sa farm-to-market roads dahil dito laging may mga kumukubra,” Mariano said.
(We wish they will not just dump gravel on short stretches and already call them farm-to-market roads. There is a need to investigate the budget because corruption is rife in such projects.)
“Huge amounts are spent on roads that are repaired or rebuilt over and over, resulting in favored contractors and duplication of projects. Corruption is also a given in these projects,” the farmer-leader added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the list of alleged top smugglers of agricultural products into the country is nothing new and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr should dismantle what it calls the “smuggling mafia” in the agricultural sector.
The KMP said the new president and Department of Agriculture secretary must exercise political will in punishing erring and corrupt government officials involved in large-scale agricultural smuggling as revealed in a recent 63-page Senate Committee report.
“Hindi na bago ang listahan. Mga lumang pangalan na dati nang nadadawit sa korapsyon sa importasyon at smuggling ang nasa listahan ng Senate Committee of the Whole Report 649,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said.
(The list is nothing new. The Senate Committee of the Whole Report 649 consists of old names that figured in the corrupt importation and smuggling in the past.)
Marcos’ first order of business in the department is to stop the rampant smuggling of agricultural produce and reprimand all those involved in large-scale smuggling, the KMP said.
The farmers’ group added the crime must be considered as economic sabotage as defined by Republic Act 10845, the anti-large scale agricultural smuggling law.
The farmers’ group added that the so-called mafia works in cahoots with agriculture and Bureau of Customs officials, including former agriculture secretary William Dar who it accuses of being accountable for the unending smuggling of agricultural products coming mostly from China.
‘Smugglers and corrupt officials’
The Senate report named the following suspected smugglers and protectors:
Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, BOC deputy commissioner Raniel Ramiro, BOC deputy commissioner for revenue collection and monitoring group Vener Baquiran, BOC director for customs intelligence and investigation service Geofrey Tacio, and Yasser Abbas of the BOC import and assessment division.
Department of Agriculture (DA) officials including Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan of the DA Central Office, Dir. George Culaste of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Eduardo Gongona of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and Laarni Roxas, of BPI – Region 3 (Central Luzon).
The said intelligence list also contained the following names and information: Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco, BFAR products, smuggling protector; David Tan (aka David Bangyan), Cebu, MICP, port of Manila, Batangas; Gerry Teves, meat products, No. 1 smuggler playing in all major ports (i.e. Subic, MICP, POM, Batangas, Cebu); Mayor Jun Diamante, all agri products playing in port of Davao, CDO, Cebu, Subic; Manuel Tan, agri-fishery products playing in Subic, CDO, and Batangas; Jude Logarta, Cebu; Leah Cruz, (aka Luz Cruz and Lilia Matabang Cruz), tagged as “Onion Queen,” DA SPSIC controller/manipulator (i.e. Subic, MICP, CDO); Andy Chua, George Tan, David Bangayan, Paul Teves, Tommy Go, and Wilson Chua.
Customs chief Guerrero denied being a smuggling protector, saying he in fact spearheaded the implementation of reforms in the bureau in the last three years.
In radio interviews, Guerrero lamented that they were not asked to reply before the Senate report was issued and made public.
He added that their accusers should just file charges in court to enable them to reply appropriately.
Senator Imee Marcos, the president’s elder sister, defended Tiangco, saying she knew him to be one of the most active mayors against smuggling.
Immediate past Senate president Vicente Sotto III presented the list to President Marcos prior to the latter’s assumption of office last Thursday.
“I informed him of the results of our investigation,” Sotto announced after their meeting, further advising the President: “Don’t leave anything at the top, if possible from the secretary down to the undersecretaries and assistant secretaries.”
In a June 29 interview with Super Radyo dzBB, Sotto also revealed he has submitted the list and the entire report to the Office of the Ombudsman.
“Pinadala ko ‘yung kopya sa Ombudsman. Hindi lang ‘yung listahan pinadala ko sa Ombudsman, ‘yung buong committee report. Nandoon iyong rekomendasyon ng buong committee ng Senado, kung sino-sino ang dapat kasuhan. Kumpleto ‘yon,” Sotto said. (I sent a copy to the Ombudsman. I sent the entire committee report, not just the list. It includes the recommendations of the entire committee of the Senate, who must be charged. It’s complete.) # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
More than a hundred local farmer organizations and food advocate groups have endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis Pangilinan for the presidency and vice presidency, respectively.
Ten days before the May 9 national and local elections, a total of 158 farmers’ organizations said they are supporting the main opposition tandem as they feel the “sincerity of their programs to uplift the lives of the Filipino poor, especially the plight of poor peasants.”
Among those that endorsed the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem are farmer’s rights advocacy groups Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes, Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya , Society of St. Paul, Student Christian Movement-University of the Philippines in Los Banos, and Agroecology X.
“We can see their clear plan and platforms for boosting agricultural production in the country along with recognizing the important role of farmers in society,” part of their statement reads.
The organizations cited among their demands the advancement of genuine land reform, opposition to foreign domination in agriculture, uplifting the lives of farmers and the rural population, strengthening of the local agriculture, and upholding justice and peace and rights of farmers.
“We have seen various personalities and groups express support for various candidates. It is high time for small farmers’ voices to be heard,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a press conference announcing their endorsement.
The signatories also cited the tandem’s “clean record and lack of any corruption issue” as among the reasons for their support.
Cecil Rapiz of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan-San Jose del Monte expressed confidence in the tandem’s record on pursuing food self-sufficiency.
“For us, deeds done are more important than any grandiose promise. We are witness to Leni-Kiko’s efforts at addressing rural poverty, especially Senator Kiko who has engaged with us farmers groups, election time or not,” Rapiz.
The organizations also acknowledged the tandem’s stance on human rights.
“We thank Vice President Leni Robredo for standing against extrajudicial killings. We remember how she joined us in demanding justice for the Bloody Sunday Massacre victims where fellow farmers and activists were killed by state forces,” Jerry Luna of Katipunan ng mga Lehitimong Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Lupang Ramos (KASAMA-LR) from Cavite said.
Lucia Capaducio of the Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras for her part said Robredo and Pangilinan’s platform is “pro-poor.”
“There is no ‘Solid North’ – the rural population suffered tremendously both under the Marcos and Duterte regimes and we are vehemently against their return to power,” Cagayan Valley peasant leader Renato Gameng said.
KMP’s Ramos said they are more organizations to join their declaration of support to Robredo and Pangilinan. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
“Oil price hikes have direct and lasting effects on agricultural and fishing production cost, cost of farm inputs, and overall cost of living for Filipinos. Throughout the deregulation era, the Department of Energy (DOE) has become a mere announcer of oil price hikes. Deregulation under Duterte also caused much damage to the livelihood and economic status of Filipinos.” — Rafael ‘Ka Paeng’ Mariano, Chairman Emeritus, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
by Rosario Guzman/IBON Foundation
Runaway inflation has always been our economic managers’ alibi for liberalizing importation. Food always takes a beating from this short-sighted policy, as it has the single biggest weight of 36% in the average commodity basket.
Inflation reached its highest in a decade in 2018 upon the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, the most comprehensive and most regressive tax reform the country has ever had. TRAIN slapped value-added taxes and excises on consumer products, including unprecedentedly on all petroleum products. It reduced income taxes, which have benefited only the rich more than the middle class and the poor, as it has ultimately rebalanced income gains with higher prices.
But it was still the rice’s fault, according to our economic managers, and hastily they did push for the tariffication of the quantitative restrictions on the country’s staple. Rice bears a 9.6% weight on inflation and it is an extremely socially sensitive product on the same level as diesel that TRAIN had finally taxed; thus it has to be kept under control. That is their logic for subjecting local rice to undue competition with imported rice that is far better government protected and supported.
Wrong premises
Our economic managers would later point to decreased rice retail prices, although still higher than pre-tariffication levels, to support the argument that imports liberalization indeed benefits the Filipino consumer.
It’s turning out to be a feeble argument, however, as the country would again see the highest food inflation in 27 months at the beginning of 2021, with meat and vegetables contributing the most. The apparent cause is government’s non-containment of the African swine fever epidemic in the hog subsector. But despite the obvious need for government intervention in domestic production, the official quick reaction is again liberalization, this time of pork imports.
The government has simply been pitting the welfare of local producers against that of the consumers, apparently in a principle of subordinating the interests of the few (the farmers) to the welfare of the many (the consumers). This is also wrongly premised on the Filipino consumers being concerned only with cheap commodities. Joblessness is at its worst level, while economic aid in the face of the pandemic has been meager. Majority of the Filipino consumers need to be productive first and earn decent incomes, or in the immediate be given economic relief, before they could truly benefit from lower prices. But government’s obsession with imports liberalization has only worsened the jobs crisis, loss of livelihoods, and farmers’ bankruptcy.
Denied reality
From 2018 to 2020, palay prices have gone down by an average of 19.5% for both fancy and other varieties. Palay prices are lower by a minimum of Php3.30 per kilo for other varieties, from a national average of Php20.06 to Php16.76 per kilo. Nine of the 17 regions have even lower palay prices than the national average. These are based on official statistics.
Field studies conducted on the first year of the rice tariffication law by Bantay Bigas, a nationwide network of rice advocates, showed farmgate prices going down to as low as Php10-15 per kilo. Palay prices in the range of Php10-14 per kilo were noted in the country’s rice bowls – Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bulacan, Pangasinan, Isabela, Ilocos Sur, Mindoro, Bicol, Negros Occidental, Capiz, and Antique. Palay prices in the range of Php11-15 per kilo were seen in Agusan del Sur, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, and Caraga. Bantay Bigas noted that palay prices continuously declined in four consecutive cropping seasons right after the passage of the rice tariffication law.
Value of palay production went down from Php385 billion in 2018 to Php318.8 billion in 2020 despite a slight increase of 229,000 metric tons (MT) in production volume at 19.3 million MT in 2020. If the average farmgate price of Php20.06 before rice tariffication was maintained, production value would be more or less at the level of Php387 billion – thus a visible loss of Php68.3 billion in the last two years, or Php32,523 for each rice farmer.
These are based on official figures. Bantay Bigas noted that farmers in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija lost Php20,000 to Php35,000 per hectare in 2019, as farmgate prices dropped to Php14 per kilo during the dry season and Php10-13 per kilo during the wet season. Farmers in Barangay Carmen in the same municipality have mortgaged about 40% of their rice lands or an estimated 80 hectares due to depressed farmgate prices. In Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, some rice lands near the highways were already sold at Php1 million per hectare.
In 2019, rice farmers’ net income per hectare decreased by 32% in the dry season, by 47% in the wet season, and by 38% on the average as compared to figures in 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. This translated to substantially lower profitability ratio for the farmers. For every peso the rice farmer spent on one hectare, his profit declined in 2019 from 73 centavos to 53 centavos in the dry season, from 63 to 36 in the wet season, and on the average from 73 centavos to 47 centavos.
The average net income of Php21,324 in 2019 translated to Php236.93 per day in a 90-day cropping season, down from 2018’s Php34,111 or Php379.01 a day. The farmer lost Php142.08 income per day, which was way bigger than the Php4.65 per day that his family supposedly gained from cheaper rice. (Regular milled rice was reportedly cheaper by Php2.86 per kilo in 2019. The daily average per capita rice consumption is 325.5 grams or 0.3255 kilogram. Thus, 0.3255 kilogram x 5 family members x Php2.86 = Php4.65)
These are official figures. We are not even talking about rice farmers who incurred net losses.
Also incidentally, the Php236.93 income per day recorded in 2019 was short of the already incredibly low official poverty threshold of Php354 per day for a family of five. It was not even enough for the official family food threshold of Php248. The reality is undeniable: the country’s rice producers live in acute poverty and hunger, and rice liberalization is directly responsible for this irony.
The bigger picture
The rice tariffication law purports to offset these losses by allocating the tariff revenues to support farmers. We do not need to go into detail about how these are not enough or at worst tokenistic. We only need to see the trend of government’s agricultural support to conclude that the Duterte administration has put the sector aside in favor of other hollow and counter-productive budget items, including its infrastructure agenda.
The budget for agriculture in 2021 is only Php110.16 billion, merely 2.2% of the national budget. This has diminished further from the 2019 share of 2.7%, which is apparently already the largest under the Duterte administration. Including the budget for agrarian reform, the annual average allocation in 2017-2020 is only 3.6% of the national budget, the lowest in 21 years. This still got smaller at 3.2% in 2021.
The country’s rice self-sufficiency ratio has significantly gone down from 93.4% in 2017 to only 79.8% by 2019. Such increased import dependence is not even justified anymore by the goal of curbing inflation nor by inadequate supply. It is but a formed habit from chronically neglecting domestic production. To illustrate, despite the hyped increase in production volume in 2020 and even at harvest time, the Duterte government approved the importation of 300,000 MT. The pandemic has apparently prompted exporters such as Vietnam and Thailand to prioritize their domestic consumption, triggering already ingrained insecurity among importers such as the Philippines.
Also totally negating the inflation argument now is the fact that Vietnam and China have already started buying rice from India due to increased local prices. This could precipitate another fast rice inflation in the narrow global market, on which the Philippines has unduly relied at the expense of its own direct producers.
This brings us back to the bigger picture – that the farmers’ struggle for the reversal of rice liberalization and for more responsible state intervention is not just about themselves but the more meaningful future of food security and national development. #
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(A contribution to the virtual forum “Rice Tariffication Law: Two Years After” sponsored by the College of Economic Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños, 22 June 2021)