Kiko, Bam: Progress won’t happen without affordable rice

The Philippines needs affordable food, especially rice, for it to become prosperous, former senators Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan and Bam Aquino said Tuesday.

Pangilinan, in a statement, said what the country needs are laws providing access to affordable and healthy food, or food revolution.

“Kapag busog ang lahat, malakas ang bayan. Pero paano tayo lalakas kung kahit bigas, hindi na kayang bilhin? Hindi ito simpleng problema—ito ay isang krisis na kailangang tugunan ngayon na,” Pangilinan, who is seeking a Senate comeback in the 2025 polls, said.

(If everybody is healthy, then we have a strong nation. But how can we achieve that when we cannot even buy rice?  This is not a simple problem. We need to address this now.)

“We need a food revolution. This is not about politics.This is about the life of every Filipino.  Hindi dapat maging pribilehiyo ang pagkain—karapatan ito ng bawat Pilipino. Tayo mismo ang kikilos para itulak ang pagbabago. Hindi tayo papayag na maging normal ang gutom sa Pilipinas,”  he added.

(Having food should not be a privilege. This is a matter of right, and we will work on this. We won’t allow hunger to be the norm.)

Pangilinan said that if reelected to the Senate in May, he will push for the following legislations: Batas sa Murang Pagkain Act, the Food Sovereignty and Farmers' Protection Act, the Expanded Feeding Program for Public Schools Act, and the Urban and Community Farming Act.

The Batas sa Murang Pagkain Act aims to lower food prices by regulating essential goods and ensuring fair trade practices, setting a price stabilization mechanism for rice, vegetables, and meat, providing direct subsidies for food production and distribution costs, and creating a national food buffer stock to prevent price spikes. The Food Sovereignty and Farmers' Protection Act, on the other hand, which will ban excessive food importation that harms local producers. Likewise, the proposed measure also seeks to create a farmers' and fisherfolk’s trust fund for subsidies, equipment, and financial support, as well as strictly enforce anti-smuggling laws and punish cartels hoarding agricultural products.

The Expanded Feeding Program for Public Schools Act, for its part,  provides for a nationwide feeding program using locally sourced food as well as establish community-based food hubs to support school meal programs.

Also in Pangilinan’s legislative pipeline is the Urban and Community Farming Act, which seeks to provide seed grants and training for backyard, rooftop, and community gardens, turn idle government lands into urban farms in cities and provinces, and promote hydroponics and vertical farming for high-density urban areas.

Pangilinan also met with Asosasyon ng mga Magsasaka ng Lipa in a coffee farm of an old coffee farmer, Lucas Mendoza,  Lipa City, Batangas  on Tuesday wherein he underscored the need for local government units to support local coffee growers engaged in multi-cropping vegetables and fruits.

Pangilinan served as food security secretary of then President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III from June 2014 to September 2015. He also authored the Sagip Saka Act, which allows national and local governments to directly purchase from rice farmers without conducting public bidding.

In Aguilar, Pangasinan also on Tuesday, Pangilinan’s ally Aquino called for amending the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) after meeting the farmers there.

The RTL allowed unlimited entry of imported rice in the country, with the P30 billion of tariff collection proceeds off imported rice going to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which provides for mechanization, interventions to increase yield, among other aid to farmers.

“Food security is national security. Matatag ang bansa natin kung kayang pakainin ng mga Pilipino ang sarili niyang kababayan. [Kaya] mahalaga talaga na baguhin ang polisiya ng gobyerno, hindi lang puro imported. Dapat iyong tulong umaabot sa inyo,” Aquino said.

(A nation is strong when it can feed its people. That is why it is really important to change this policy. We should not depend on imported rice, and the assistance to farmers should reach them.)

Then candidate and eventual President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. promised a P20 per kilo rice prices. He later clarified that this price range is an aspiration. —AOL, GMA Integrated News