THE P5 billion under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the Rice Liberalization Act will be released in the third quarter of this year, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said on Monday.
Neda Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said in a news conference at the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) head office that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has committed to provide the Department of Agriculture (DA) P5 billion under the RCEF by the third quarter of 2019 in line with helping rice farmers.
“The rest of the P5 billion [under the RCEF] will come hopefully in the third quarter of this year because that is the DBM commitment, because that is under the law,” Sombilla said. She explained that the budget for the P10-billion RCEF fund under RA 11203 is included under unprogrammed appropriations under the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“So once there are government savings—but whether there are savings or not—that P5-billion [RCEF fund] has to come because that is the law. So, it’s really a commitment. For the initial P5 billion, I am talking to the DA and DBM to get already a portion of that to go to the different agencies that will implement the different components when they are already ready.
Well it’s supposed to be part of the RCEF but there was a misunderstanding in allocation,” she added.
Sombilla pointed out that P1 billion from the initial P5 billion funding to help rice farmers, which was released last year by the DBM, is already being credited to farmer accounts under a Memorandum of Understanding entered into by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
Meanwhile, the remaining P4 billion of the initial P5 billion allotment is still being threshed out by the Neda and DA, with the funds being eyed to be provided to agencies connected to the implementation of RA 11203.
“We are asking the DA to help us provide funds for Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). But they still don’t have their respective guidelines [in line with the implementing rules and regulations of RA 11203], so we still don’t know how much they really need. The guidelines should be issued 15 days after the IRR publication. We are doing it [guidelines] now, I think it’s in the final stages, I think they are being reviewed by the DA,” she added.