The minority bloc in the House of Representatives on Wednesday demanded the resignation of food security officials for incompetence, saying the looming acute rice shortage is the biggest threat to national security.
The move came as Senator Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on food and agriculture, said the rice situation has worsened during the term of Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.
In the House, the bloc led by Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez urged Piñol, National Food Authority Administrator Jason Aquino, and members of the NFA Council led by Secretary Leoncio Evasco, to resign for incompetence and failure to protect Filipino farmers and fishermen and for promoting the importation of rice and fish and the legalization of rice smuggling in parts of Mindanao.
Food security is the biggest national threat. If he cannot handle the job, he might as well resign. They [Piñol, Aquino and the rest of NFA Council officials] should all resign,” said Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, a member of the minority bloc.
Suarez said the food security officials must be able to address the problem by promoting self-sufficiency even as he was alarmed by the situation, which he said, has triggered by some rice traders and cartels to take advantage of the situation.
“The Philippines is an agricultural country with our lush greenery, cultivated fields, and rich aquatic ecosystems. It is befuddling that the Department of Agriculture proposed the importation of rice and ‘galunggong’ from other Asian countries. Rice and ‘galunggong’ are staples of the Filipino diet,” Suarez said.
Suarez said he hopes the current ‘importation’ policy “ is not a case of ‘when there is importation, there is commission.”
Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin hit Piñol for promoting the idea to legalize rice smuggling in some parts of Mindanao, saying it is tantamount to economic sabotage.
“To legalize smuggling… endangers national economy and also local farmers. This is a very wrong solution to the problem. This is plain stupidity,” said Garbin.
Suarez, Atienza, and Garbin also hit NFA’s statement that the fumigated rice from Thailand and Vietnam that were infested by weevils (“bukbok”) are safe for human consumption.
Suarez also threatened to defer the budgets of various agencies during plenary deliberations.
Villar said prices of rice have shot up under Piñol’s watch, with prices going up to P50, P60, P65 or even as high as P75 per kilo.
“Do you think it’s not worsening?” Villar said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.
Villar also questioned Piñol’s suggestion that rice smuggling be legalized.
“Why legalize smuggling? Are you not encouraging smuggling? Why not just get the smuggled rice and give them to the DSWD?”
If smuggled rice is bid out, smugglers would be the winners, she said.
“Eventually, these smugglers will win the bid. It was just an inconvenience on their part, but in the end, they are still the winners,” she said.
She rejected the claim of Piñol that the increase in the prices of rice and the supply shortage was due to the delayed rice importation.
“It is their mandate to buy from farmers during harvest the rice at P17 and sell them at P20 to P22. Why not buy from farmers? Why insist on importation? Why is there a shortage?” she asked.
She lamented that the lack of seriousness in getting rid of the rice cartel and smuggling.
Opposition Senators Francis Pangilinan and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV sought a Senate investigation into the rice crisis in Zamboanga City and the eight-month hike in rice prices in the country.
The two senators said the NFA “must be held accountable and must see to it that cheap and quality rice is available in the market.”
They added that the NFA “must explain the said shortage, the alleged hoarding, and how the situation in Zamboanga City reached calamity level.”
The rice crisis is not limited to Zamboanga City, where prices reached P70 per kilo, as the Philippine Statistics Authority reported “an upward streak” for rice prices for eight months now, the senators said.
Citing PSA figures, the senators noted the following year-on-year increases on:
• Average wholesale price of well-milled rice at P43.18 per kilo, or 10 percent higher
• Average retail price of well-milled rice at P45.71 per kilo, or 9 percent higher
• Average wholesale price of regular-milled rice at P40.08 per kilo, or 13 percent higher
• Average retail price of regular-milled rice at P42.26 per kilo, or 11 percent higher
On Wednesday, the NFA said it would continue to limit selling rice as the overall supply has yet to normalize.
NFA retailers have limited the sale of rice to five kilos per consumer per day as lower-cost rice shipments have yet to be fully released.
The consumer network Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Konsyumer para sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan called for price control and greater government regulation amid escalating rice prices.
The group said the unabated price hikes are taking their toll on consumers, especially the poor.