MANILA -- Malacañang on Tuesday vowed to assist farmers suffering from income loss as prices of palay (rice) have dropped to PHP7 per kilo to compete with imported rice.
“Palagi naman ang gobyerno tutulungan ang mga nangangailangan (The government always helps those in need),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a media interview.
Panelo said he will also ask President Rodrigo Duterte on measures the government would take to address farmers’ woes during their next Cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Panelo said he will also defer to the newly-appointed Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar to release a statement on the issue.
“I suppose we will have to wait for the Secretary of Agriculture to articulate his concern,” Panelo said.
Last Aug. 17, Dar bared that instead of the initial conditional cash transfer to help the rice farmers, DA would provide a PHP1.5-billion loan program for farmers, who were affected by the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), that led to the influx of cheaper imports.
Dar said under the program, the affected rice farmers tilling one hectare of land and below may avail of PHP15,000 loan via the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Program for Rice Farmers (SURE Aid) which started on Sept. 1, 2019. The one-time, zero-interest loan is payable up to eight years.
Farmer groups have lamented that rice tariffication was a disadvantage to them because retailers preferred to purchase cheaper rice imports instead of rice from local producers.
On Feb. 14, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the Rice Tariffication Act expected to lower the prices of rice, protect farmers from competition, and ease inflation.
Panelo earlier said farmer groups have the right to question the legality of the law if they feel that it would cause more harm than good to the agriculture sector. (PNA)
