President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday warned rice hoarders not to test his patience, saying he would not hesitate to use his emergency powers against them amid the country’s rice woes.
“I’m just warning the traders, especially if it concerns the stomachs of Filipinos, do not force me to resort to emergency measures,” Duterte in a mix of English and Filipino at a press conference before flying out to Israel and Jordan.
He said he would not hesitate to order law enforcers to raid their warehouses and vowed not to let Filipinos go huntry.
“If I see any hoarding, I will not hesitate to exercise the powers of the President and I will ask the military and the police to raid your warehouses, bodegas,” Duterte said. “I can do that, and if you force me, I will,” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, however, said the government should focus its efforts to improve the poor agricultural infrastructure that has stymied the growth of the industry.
“The government should take a closer look at the state of agriculture infrastructure in the country if it wants to enhance agricultural productivity in order to prevent rice shortage and stop unscrupulous traders from taking advantage of the situation,” Drilon said.
Drilon said, “it is unfortunate that the Philippines, considered an agricultural country, has no sufficient rice on the table, which is a staple food of millions of Filipinos.”
“Why did it happen? Because our farmers do not get the support they need in terms of infrastructure resulting in low harvest each year. We must therefore provide them infrastructure that can boost their production,” he said.
Drilon urged the government to include in its Build-Build-Build program more infrastructure support in the agriculture sector.
Several farmer groups said sustained investment in the rice industry is “the only sustainable solution” to recurring food security problems, even as the government moves toward imports.
The Federation of Free Farmers and 25 other farmer organizations said there is no guarantee that rice prices will go down once the rice trade is liberalized through the removal of the quantitative restrictions.
The farmers groups said they fear that importers will only maximize their profits, sell their rice at the highest price possible, and take advantage of the situation.
“Hoarding, price manipulation, and cartelized trading will not disappear. There is a possibility that a large portion of the rice trade will be taken over by well-financed speculators who will instigate sudden movements in rice prices in order to make a quick profit, regardless of its effect on consumers,” the farmer groups said.
They speculated that a sudden surge in the demand for rice imports will lead to a higher international market price for the grain.
“If large rice consuming countries like China and Indonesia suddenly decide to import rice, the Philippines might not even be able to source enough rice from its traditional suppliers,” they said, calling on the government planners to analyze comprehensively the repercussions of rice trade liberalization so as to place necessary measures before the removing quantitative restrictions.
“At present, government planners are simply claiming that the QR removal will allow more and cheaper imports to come in, leading to lower prices of rice for consumers,” they said.
“However, their analysis does not measure the long-run effects on rice farmers who will have to absorb lower prices for their products, and on rural communities that will be affected correspondingly,” they added.
To expand and intensify the programs of the Department of Agriculture improving the competitiveness and profitability of rice farmers, the farmer groups backed the proposal to establish the so-called Rice Competitiveness Fund.
RCEF will be funded from tariffs collected on rice imports, stakeholders said.
“Additionally, the fund can be used to provide farmers with safety nets in the event of natural calamities, market disruptions, and personal emergencies,” they said, emphasizing that the Agriculture department should formulate guidelines and policies for proper usage of the said fund.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, meanwhile, said if government officials can stomach weevil-infested rice, the people they serve cannot.
His comment was in response to Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol’s assurances that it was all right to eat weevil-infested rice, since the insects could be removed with washing.
