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FRTDAY-S rURDAy,SEPIEIiBER 20-2t, 2019
investigation into rice cartels, ASF
A PARTY-LIST legislator representing
farmers said Thursday that he is seeking
investigations into rice industry cartels as
well the outbreak of African Swine Fever
(ASF) in some hog farms on Luzon.
Magsasaka PartyJist Rep. Argel T, Ca-
batbat filed House Resolutions No. gg2
and 336 which directs the Committee on
Agriculture and Food to probe allegations
of rice smuggling alld the ASF outbreak.
Mr. Cabatbat said Republic Act No. 1123
or ttre Rice Tariffication Law has encour-
aged hoarding, smuggling and price ma-
nipulation by rice traders.
'Lagqnap pa rin ang smuggling and
under-declalation (Srnuggling and under-
declarationofimportvaluesisstillmmpant).
Nalulugi ang gobyemo sa tax qt nqhihirqpan
ang mga magsasaka (the gol'€rnment is not
collecting the correct taxes and farmers are
suffering).-. ftrndi rfi naman nakftinabang
ang mga conzumei/rasi ili rin namanbumaba
ang presyo ng bigqs.(consumers are not ben-
efiting from imports because rice prices have
not fallen)," Mr. Cabatlat said at a briefing
He called on the Philippine Competi-
tioh Commission (PCC) to lead the rice
investigation. '
'Ang batas na nagbubuo n9 philip-
pine Competition Commission, lrrndi nilc
kailangan ng may magrereklamo pqra
maibestigahan nila (The law allows the
PCC to investigate even without t}le filing
of a complaint)," he said.
Separately, 53 legislators filed a resolu-
tion seeking a PI5-billion supplemental
budget for the National Food Authority
(NTA) to boost its purchasing activity at
'P2O per kilogram,
citing "the dire impacts
ofthe Rice Talimcation Law-"
House Joint Resolution No. 18 directs
the NFA to procure at least 75O,OOO metric
tons of unrnilled rice or palay from farmers
at P2O per kilo farm gate price, and sell
NFA rice to consumers at P27 per kilo.
U ntil recently, the NFA'S purchasing price
for palay was Pt7 plus incentives, which
include payrnents to cooperatives selling
palay to the NFA This was lecently raised to
PI9 while elimbating the incentives.
The NFA serves as a buyer of last resort
for farmers who are typically bargained
down by rice traders, though its funds are
. insuftcient to buy the entire harvest at the
support price.
Mr. Cabatbat also alleged tlat the ASF
outbreaJ< may have been caused smuggling.
"Nagkaroon tayo ng porkbarr sa mga
bansang tinamqan nito. So:logically, di .
nqdap4t jto makakapasok sa atin.., (We
banned pork from ASF-affected countries,
so logically, the disease should not have
been able to enter) Kaya pinagdududd-
han namin ang smtggling na dahilan kung
bakit nakapasok ang African Swine Fever
(that is why we suspect smuggling is be-
hind the entry ofASF),' Mr. Cabatbat said.
Mr. Cabatbat said tlat he is hophg that
the House inquiry car start next week add-
ing that he will support additional tunding
for the DA to.aid in tlle ASF containment
effort.
The proposed DA budget for 2O2O is
Ps4.43lbillion. VinceAngelo C lbrrcras
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