Villar wants to agri bill to punish hoarders, cartels passed
The passage of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act should be prioritized rather than the amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law to lower rice prices, Senator Cynthia Villar said Sunday.
In an interview with dzBB, Villar said the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act should be ratified and signed into law so hoarders, profiteers, and cartels which cause rice prices to increase would be punished.
Relatively high rice prices have been causing the inflation rate to increase in the last few months.
''We passed that in the Senate and they also passed that in the House. They (House of Representatives) don’t want to agree to have a (bicameral conference committee) so it can be passed. Because those who illegally sell rice at high prices would be punished. We also created a special court, with the consent of the Supreme Court where cases on the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Law will be prosecuted,” Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform said.
She even stressed that the bill had been certified as urgent by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
“The reason why rice prices are high is because of the cartels, profiteers, and hoarders. They need to be punished so they would stop. Because if they would not be punished, they would not stop because they profit from it,” she added.
Villar said that instead of amending the Rice Tariffication Law to restore the power of the NFA to sell and import rice, she is pushing to extend it and include provisions that would give additional benefits to rice farmers.
“In 2019, the NFA would import rice without a tariff. The rice prices would still be high because the NFA and cartels would control the supply of rice. That’s why we removed the power of the NFA to import and we gave it to everyone, and they would pay a 35 percent tariff,” Villar said.
“All the tariff collected from the rice imports returns to the farmers. The P10-billion Rice Competitive Enhancement Fund (RCEF) provides machines and in-bred seedlings to rice farmers. It also helps educate rice farmers and allows them to borrow. And then, we also provided P8 billion in financial assistance to rice farmers owning two hectares and below. P5,000 a year to 1.6 million rice farmers,” she said.
“We will add the assistance given to farmers. Because the (RCEF) will expire in 2025, it needs to be renewed. We will add organic fertilizers and a water impounding facility with solar power…to help the government with irrigation,” she added.
Villar also said she would consider including amendments in the Rice Tariffication Law that would give the Office of the President special powers to import and sell rice instead of the NFA. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
