House panel probe on agricultural smuggling set November 12

MANILA, Philippines — The quinta committee of the House of Representatives that aims to dismantle the decades-long cartels in the country’s agriculture industry will start its investigation on Nov. 12.

The first hearing of the mega committee, to be led by the ways and means panel of Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, will be on Nov. 12 at 9 a.m. at the People’s Center Building inside the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City.

The hearing's main agenda of the quinta comm hearing is the deliberation of House Resolution 254 aimed at addressing rampant smuggling in the country’s agricultural sector that perennially results in the spiraling cost of basic commodities and stoking inflation, to the detriment of consumers.

Meanwhile, rice imports this year could hit a record level of 4.2 million metric tons as the country continues to grapple to meet its growing demand and ensuring stable retail prices for the staple, an agriculture official said.

Leocadio Sebastian, a former agriculture undersecretary and a member of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.’s technical advisory group, said the country has to end the year with a good level of rice stocks to ensure that prices would not spike at the start of next year.

He noted that the country may probably import at least another 400,000 MT in the last two months of the year to ensure a comfortable level of rice stocks following domestic harvest losses due to weather disturbances.

To bring affordable rice to Filipinos, President Marcos on Tuesday ordered the expansion of the government’s Rice-for-All and P29 per kilo rice programs, as well as its Kadiwa outlets nationwide.

Marcos directed the Department of Agriculture and Department of Budget and Management to increase the Kadiwa centers from the current 21 to 300 by mid-2025.

Rice remains to be the main driver of food inflation in October, with its inflation rate surging 9.6 percent in October from 5.7 percent in September.

Meanwhile, farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura yesterday bewailed the depressed farmgate price of palay as it dropped to as low as P15 per kilo even after the implementation of Executive Order 62 that lowered the tariff for imported rice. – Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas, Helen Flores, Bella Cariaso