Romualdez thanks colleagues for backing farmers aid proposal

House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez welcomed the House Committee on Agriculture and Food’s approval of a substitute House Joint Resolution (HJR) urging Congress to authorize the use of the rice subsidy as provided in this year’s R3.757-trillion national budget for the purchase of palay (unhusked rice) from farmers.

Romualdez expressed the House’s commitment to extend assistance to poor farmers following the continued drop in palay prices as a result of the implementation of Republic Act No. 11203, or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

“I thank my colleagues for the immediate passage of this measure to help our distressed farmers,” Romualdez, one of the principal authors of the House joint resolution, said.

“We want to ensure that our farmers are given assistance to address their concerns,” he said.

Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, urged Malacañang to certify the joint resolution as urgent to ensure its speedy adoption in both houses of Congress.

He said the resolution could be passed on Nov. 4, when Congress resumes sessions, if there is a certification from President Duterte.

“Assuming there is certification, once we return, we will be asking the Committee on Rules and the speaker if we could prioritize this for sponsorship for second reading. Being certified, on that same day, we can have our third reading approval,” Enverga said in an interview.

On Wednesday, the Enverga panel approved the still unnumbered joint resolution, which seeks to ease the plight of the country's poor farmers.

The substitute joint resolution mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National Defense (DND), Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in coordination with the National Food Authority (NFA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), to buy palay directly from local farmers and distribute the rice subsidy in the form of actual rice, instead of cash.

The joint resolution substituted House Joint Resolution No. 16 and House Resolution No. 322, filed by Deputy Speaker for Finance Luis Raymund Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, and Tingog Sinarangan party-list Rep. Yedda Romualdez and House Majority Leader and Romualdez.

Enverga said expected to be tapped for the implementation of the joint resolution are the DSWD’s last payout amounting to R2.7 billion under the rice subsidy program and the DND’s remaining allocations of R2.89 billion that are allotted to the rice subsidy programs for military uniformed personnel.

According to the unnumbered House joint resolution, the 2019 GAA provides a total allocation of R33.9 billion for rice subsidies, the largest of which is given to the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that can be utilized to buy palay directly from local farmers "at a very competitive and reasonable price.”