House OKs bill granting agri competitiveness fund until 2028 on final reading

The House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill which extends the implementation of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) to six more years.

Voting on House Bill 3917, which amends the Rice Tariffication Law, went 225 for yes votes with zero no votes and zero abstention.

The bill extends the ACEF implementation up to 2028 instead of it expiring this month

“This will enable the Department of Agriculture to continue to use the funds for development activities of the farming sector,” the committee report on the measure read.

Aside from extended ACEF, the measure also mandates the inclusion of duties collected from importation of agricultural products within the minimum access volume (MAV) mechanism to be credited to ACEF under Special Account 183 in the General Fund of the National Treasury.

In addition, House Bill 3917 directs concerned government agencies to submit the following documents to the ACEF Executive Committee and the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization  (COCAFM):

• Bureau of Customs’ reports on duties collected from the MAV mechanism for the period 2016 to 2022;
• Bureau of the Treasury reports on funds remitted  and credited to ACEF (Special Account 183); and
• Department of Budget and Management reports of ACEF funds released to the Department of Agriculture for the period 2016 to 2022

House Bill 3917 also directs the Commission on Audit to conduct a full audit and report on the status of ACEF grants and loans extended for the period 2016 to 2021. — Llanesca T. Panti/RSJ, GMA Integrated News