Philippine Congress To Pass More Laws To Ensure Food Security

Lawyer Karlo Nograles, son and chief of staff of House Speaker Prospero Nograles, right, speaks at a recent consultation with Rep. Abraham Mitra, of Palawan province, in Davao City in the southern Philippines. Nograles says Congress envisions the passing of more laws to protect the country from food crisis.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 9, 2008) – The Philippine Congress are set to pass new laws that will ensure food security.

Lawyer Karlo Nograles, son and chief of staff of House Speaker Prospero Nograles, said with the success of the nationwide consultations on the implementation of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), Congress is set to pass new bills and resolutions aimed at strengthening food security in the country.

Two of the consultations, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, were held in the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

The consultation in Davao was attended by many stakeholders. Nograles himself hosted the consultation on the Committee on Agriculture headed by Rep. Abraham Mitra, of Palawan province.

"The gathering was very significant in ensuring food security of the country," he said.

Mitra admitted that the high cost of rice resulted in food crisis and could be partly blamed to the lack of sufficient budget for the agricultural sector, particularly on the implementation of the AFMA.

Mitra said if only AFMA gets the budget it deserves - since the law was passed in 1997 - the crisis would not have happened.

Mitra explained the supposed P20 billion budgets in 1999 and P17 billion a year for the next six years from 2000-2005 for AFMA, did not materialize.

"If only the money was given to aid farmers and fishermen in the country, this food crisis would not have happened," Mitra told reporters.

Mitra said during their nationwide consultation they discovered that the country has ample supply of rice, but farmers cultivating the land did not have the resources to support their farming.

"I think if AFMA gets the right budget it deserve we do not anymore need to import rice from other countries," Mitra said.

He said they already relayed to President Gloria Arroyo the need to allocate some budget for AFMA implementation.

Mitra said they chose Davao City as venue for the consultation since the city and the entire Region 11 have many farmers aside from being one of the premier cities in the country.

"With the inputs we gather in our nationwide consultation we will create laws to benefit the agricultural sector in the country," he said. (Romy Bwaga)