Marginalizing the marginalized: Delayed aid for farmers

IN 2018, typhoons and rice hoarding by cartels led to a rice shortage and soaring rice prices. Government responded with Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law which removed import quotas on rice and opened the local market to a flood of imported rice.

Since its implementation in March 2019, the buying price of palay (unhusked rice) has plummeted to a record-low PHP7-12/kg, while the selling price of milled rice is still at PHP 38-44/kg. Not only has it failed to bring prices down, rice tariffication has also crippled the local rice industry and made Philippine food security more problematic.

The steep drop of palay’s buying price has drawn media attention to the plight of farmers who have suffered huge losses from the import surge. Reports have cited contradictory views among the administration’s economic managers, agriculture department officials and the House and Senate committees on agriculture. But coverage has failed to fully explain the impact of the policy on farmers. Media seem to have also missed reporting the lack of a clear and immediate plan to aid rice farmers.

CMFR monitored reports from the three leading Manila broadsheets (Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star); the primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, CNN Philippines’ News Night, GMA-7’s 24 Oras and TV5’s Aksyon); as well as selected online news sites from August 26 to September 10, 2019.

Policy failure

Farmers opposed the passage of rice tariffication from the start, arguing that the influx of imported rice would drive the price of local rice down. But the law’s backers claimed that the PHP10 billion Rice Competitive Enhancement Fund (RCEF) would help local farmers improve their productivity and competitiveness with economic benefits in the long run. RCEF would receive the revenues gained from rice taxes.

Obviously, this funding would not be available as quickly as needed. It may take some time before farmers can benefit from RCEF but as media reports pointed out, the effect of the law were immediate. Farmers are anticipating even bigger losses in the next harvest cycle this October.

Regardless of the debate about the wisdom of the policy, all efforts should focus on the more pressing matter at hand — the dire situation of farmers.

Aiding the farmers

Reports on the government’s aid to farmers were relegated to the inside pages, with most of them landing in the business section. While there were efforts to discuss these initiatives, the media fell short of explaining issues arising from RCEF, including the lack of implementing guidelines and the slow disbursement of the fund.

Most reports did not question why despite the high tariff yield, the government still failed to provide subsidies in the interim to prevent the massive failure of the rice growing sector. This was originally part of the plan but the government now resorted to providing loans to farmers.

A news.ABS-CBN.com report said that the Department of Budget and Management had released PHP5 billion from the RCEF to the Department of Agriculture, of which PHP1 billion was loaned to farmers. PHP4 billion, however, remains unaccounted for.

A statement by Sen. Francis Pangilinan last August 13 escaped much of the media’s attention. He said farmers should immediately receive PHP20 billion emergency cash assistance from collected tariffs and unprogrammed funds. Pangilinan, former presidential adviser on food and agriculture, presented data showing that farmers have already lost PHP60 billion due to the tariff law.

While the tariff law is expected to yield PHP15 billion this year, it will come at a high cost–the source of livelihood of more than two million Filipino farmers. As far as the media are concerned, this crisis did not deserve much space or time in the news agenda. The policy could drive the local rice industry to extinction and there would be little notice received from the press.