BY VANNE TERRAZOLA
Senators urged Monday the agencies under the Department of Agriculture (DA) not to allow importation of rice, corn and other agricultural products during harvest season to avoid oversupply and the excessive decline in farmgate prices.
At the continuation of the Senate finance subcommittee’s deliberation of the DA’s P86.3-billion proposed 2021 budget, Senator Cynthia Villar asked for support from her colleagues to back her motion to halt rice importation amid the plummeting prices of palay.
She pointed out that it was the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) that is in charge of issuing the permits for rice importation.
“They [should] promise us that ‘pag harvest, huwag magbigay ng import permit. Common sense naman ‘yon na pag magha-harvest, huwag magbigay ng import permit,” Villar, a vice chairperson of the Senate finance panel, said.
“Mag-gawa ng schedule na ‘pag tatamaan ‘yong pagdating ng importation sa harvest time, eh huwag nang ibigay ‘yon. Para wala tayong problema sa plummeting palay prices,” she added.
“I want senators to support this para makinig naman sa atin ang DA. Kasi akala nila we are not united in this.”
Senators seconded Villar’s call, adding that the suspension of importation should also apply to other basic commodities, such as corn, feed wheat, garlic, fish and poultry products.
“So we’ll make a general request to BPI, BAI (Bureau of Animal Industry) and BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources),” Villar said. (Vanne Terrazola)
