THE national government is willing to spend an initial amount of P3 billion to buy the unhusked rice produced by local farmers affected by the implementation of the rice trade liberalization law.
Following President Duterte’s verbal order, Acting Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado said they will talk with the Department of Finance (DOF) and Department of Agriculture (DA) officials this week.
“The President has made the order to buy the produce of our rice farmers so we have to source out the needed funds. The initial targeted amount is 3 billion,” Avisado said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.
“We will sit down with the DOF and DA officials [this] week in order to fast-track the process and for us to comply with the President’s order as fast as we can,” he added.
Sought to clarify on the possible source of funds, Avisado said this will be one of the things they will discuss during the meeting.
Duterte said in a late-night press conference on November 20 that he is formally ordering Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar to suspend rice imports.
This was the same time that he expressed willingness to buy all farmers’ produce at farm-gate prices, even if it means government spending billions and losing money.
Although the administration will no longer suspend rice imports during harvest, Dar said the President wants them to tighten the guidelines for importing rice, among other directives.
Last Friday, the President defended his order of buying the produce of local farmers, saying this is equivalent to buying social unrest.
“But then allow them a leeway of comfort in life. So who bears the burden? The Filipino people. We lose. Yes, we lose. How many billions? Five, 6, 7 billions. So what? It’s our money. It’s your money. And we are, I said, buying social unrest. It’s more expensive to deal with, especially if these guys would join the NPA [New People’s Army],” Duterte said in a speech during the inauguration of the Phase 2 of the coal-fired power plant of the Sarangani Energy Corp. and presentation of the hydropower project of Siguil Hydropower Economic Zone.
However, analysts earlier interviewed by the BusinessMirror said the President’s order would distort market dynamics.
While he said there is nothing inherently wrong with the move as an immediate response to farmers’ needs, lawyer Michael Yusingco, a nonresident research fellow of Ateneo School of Government, said this cannot be a long-term policy and that the government’s ultimate goal should be to make farmers competitive.
For economist Maria Ella C. Oplas, economics professor of De La Salle University, this move will not only create an artificial floor price which could lead to market distortion but it will also make room for corruption as the government can sell rice at a lower price.