Mag-debate Tayo, Toti! Economic Analyst Chikiamco Says RTL Benifited Consumers, Farmers

May isang artikulo na isinulat ng isang Calixto Chikiamco, diumano’y Ekonomista na miembro ng board ng Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis (IDEA) na nagsabing maraming pagkakamaling desisyon si Pangulong Duterte at ang dalawa doon ay ang paghirang sa akin bilang Agriculture Secretary at kay nasirang Gina Lopez bilang DENR Secretary.

Ang ibig nyang sabihin kami ni Gina Lopez ay mga incompetent na hindi dapat na-appoint ng Pangulong Duterte sa Cabinet.

Sinabi din nya sa bandang dulo ng kanyang Economic Analysis na ang pinakamagandang legislation daw na naipasa ay ang Rice Tariffication Law sapagkat nakatulong daw Ito sa mahigit 100-million na consumers at mga magsasaka ng palay.

The “RTL benefited more than 100 million rice consumers, including farmers themselves who consume rice during the lean season, and has helped stabilize rice prices,” Chikiamco claimed.

“Agriculture Secretary and former Governor Manny Piñol had no programs in agriculture beyond free irrigation and free fertilizer. He actively opposed the dismantling of the NFA rice importation monopoly,” Chikiamco wrote in his column.

He went on to also attack the competence of the late Gina Lopez.

“Another mistake was the appointment of the late Gina Lopez to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), not because Gina was an environmentalist, but because she had an extremist ideology that was anti-development. Responsible mining has a significant role in our economy — it generates export revenue and creates jobs in the countryside — but Gina Lopez had to have none of it. She even banned open pit mining, which is an accepted practice in many parts of the world, for example, in Australia and Canada, where responsible mining is practiced,” Chikiamco said of Gina Lopez.

He continued by praising the appointment of my successor describing him as “the competent Dr. William Dar to the Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, this was another case of too little and too late. Before Secretary Dar could accomplish his programs, the department was confronted by the African Swine Fever in pork production and the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted the agricultural market and supply chains. The budget which should have gone to agriculture went to the health sector instead.”

As a veteran journalist myself, I know where this article is coming from.

Hindi ko na sana papatulan dahil ayaw ko na mawala sa focus sa aking mga advocacies pero mukhang foul ang pag-atake nya kay Gina Lopez na patay na at hindi ko palalagpasin ang kaniyang sinabi na napakaganda daw ng Rice Tariffication Law.

Questioning the competence of somebody who has departed and who will not be able to defend herself leaves a bad taste in the mouth, Mr. Chikiamco.

As for your claim that Free Irrigation at Free Fertilizer lang ang ginawa ko as DA Secretary, let me educate you a little bit.

The Free Irrigation Act was a measure that I and then Presidential

Candidate Rodrigo Duterte agreed to implement because we knew that the collection by NIA from rice farmers was part of the loan repayment conditions.

But farmers had been paying the fees for 30 to 50 years and the loans had long been repaid. So bakit pa kokolekta ng irrigation fees.

Second, namigay daw ako ng Free Fertilizer. Had you asked people who knew me, you would have known that I detest dole-outs.

I have been an advocate of the Cost Recovery Scheme for government interventions. In fact, I attempted to do this when I was able to forge a Fertilizer Loaning Program with a Dubai-based Russian Company which was willing to grant a fertilizer loan to Irrigators Associations through the Planters Products Inc.

The Fertilizer Loaning Program which was signed and sealed and ready for implementation in early 2019 was worth P8-B payable after two harvests initially and every harvest thereafter.

This program, which could have greatly helped our farmers today, was shot down by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez who said that government might end up paying the loan if the farmers did not pay.

So there. I have clarified your issues against me. Sadly, Gina could not defend herself.

Pero hindi kita palalagpasin są claim mo that the RTL benefited 100-M consumers, including rice farmers.

Here is my challenge: Let us stage a public debate on the RTL with the proposition: “Resolve that the Rice Tariffication Law Benefited Filipino Rice Consumers.”

Pabor ka sa RTL samantalang ako Kontra.

Magandang laban ito: Ekonomista versus Farmer.

Set the time, the date and the venue and I will be there.

#DebateEconomistVsFarmer!