Senator Panfilo Lacson on Sunday slammed those behind the corruption at the Department of Agriculture, who, he said, threatened not just the Philippines’ food security but also its national security.
“There is nothing more basic than food, especially in a pandemic. If corruption infects the Department of Agriculture that should be at the forefront of food security efforts. Wala na. Saan pa tayo pupulutin kung ang mga walang kaluluwa, walang konsensya pati pagkain ng ordinaryong Pilipino di papatawarin?” Lacson told DZBB radio.
He said those people also made money from food that should be on Filipino tables.
He reiterated his warning that such corrupt practices, compounded by Executive Order 128 that brings down tariff rates for imported pork products, might make local hog raisers and those depending on them vulnerable to recruitment by the New People’s Army.
“It will be easy for the NPA to recruit new members, especially those who go hungry after losing their livelihood and blame government policies for their plight. This has given the NPA an opportunity to recruit. This will add to our national security problem,” he said.
During the first hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole on food security, Lacson warned of some P5.4 billion in foregone revenues with the lower tariffs specified in EO 128.
He says the P5.4 billion does not yet take into account questionable practices such as the possible misdeclaration, underdeclaration or outright smuggling that caused the government to lose more than P1 billion a year in the importation of fish and seafood products from 2015 to 202O.
He questioned the seeming tendency of the DA to resort to importation instead of finding more practical alternatives, such as redistributing produce from areas where there is a surplus to those where there is a shortage.
“It came to the point that Senate President Vicente Sotto III and I were joking that the DA has become a Department of Importation because it seems all the solutions it can think of are centered on importation,” Lacson said.
