JUNE 12, 2011

NR # 2433B

Solons file bill to determine the national food requirements of Filipinos

Lawmakers have urged the government to come up with a food requirement plan for Filipinos to ensure that the people are first assured of locally produced food supply before exporting said produce to the international market. Rep. Juan Ponce-Enrile Jr. (1st District, Cagayan), one of the authors of House Bill 4626, said the Departments of Agriculture (DA) and Trade and Industry, together with the National Food Requirement Plan (NFRP), shall identify the food requirements of Filipinos and determine the provinces that should produce specific food requirements. The bill will require the DA to plan what each of the provinces in the country should produce to enhance its competitiveness. It should also have infrastructure and marketing supports per province, Enrile said. The bill is based on the principle of food sovereignty, which is the right of peoples, communities and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies, which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances, Enrile added. Rep. Francisco Emmanuel Ortega (Party-list, Abono), another author of the measure, said the bill corrects the organizational dysfunction of the National Food Authority (NFA) by decoupling its proprietary and regulatory functions. Under the bill, a new trading entity is created known as the National Strategic Food Supply and Reserve Corporation (NSFSRC). The regulatory function of the then NFA will be given to the DA, Ortega said. Rep. Walden Bello (Party-list, Akbayan), another author of the bill, said a Filipino is secured if he has sovereignty. The principle of sovereignty includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies, Bello said. Under the bill to be known as the Food for Filipinos First Act of 2011, all local government chief executives shall submit the Provincial Food Requirement Plan to the DA every March of the previous year so that the DA in collaboration with the DTI can formulate the NFRP before the budget call for inclusion in the proposed budget of the succeeding year.

The bill provides for the establishment of the NSFSRC, which shall be attached to the DA. The NSFRC shall be responsible for the formulation of a comprehensive supply and reserve program of the food grains, fishing and vegetable industries. Likewise, the NSFRC is mandated to undertake the duty and tariff-free importation of rice for the government to maintain the appropriate volume of the Strategic Rice Reserve and Government Rice Buffer Stock by July of each year. Furthermore, the NFRC is directed to issue debt instruments that are agri-agra eligible and guaranteed by the national government up to a maximum amount of P5,000,000,000. The measure provides that all assets and liabilities of the NFA not transferred to the NSFRC shall be retained and administered, disposed of and liquidated by the NFA itself and all assets pertaining to the regulatory, developmental and research functions of the NFA shall be transferred to the Department of Agriculture. (30) lvc