Contrary to claims that the Department of Agriculture (DA) has already used “or misused” part of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to immediately release the funds so rice farmers could use it to recover from El Niño.
Of the P10-B RCEF budget for 2019, only P1-B for credit is now available with the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
The remaining P9-B still has to be released but DBM Acting Secretary Janet Abuel said the agency will be able to release initially P5-B for this season.
There was an initial confusion on the total amount still to be released by DBM because on Dec. 28, 2018, DBM released P5-B for “Support to the National Rice Program” of the DA.
Of the amount, P1-B was earmarked for credit under the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC).
The money was immediately released to the region and disbursed according to programs approved by DBM.
The P1-B for Credit, however, was given to LBP and DBP to fund the Credit Program under the RCEF.
The Rice Tariffication Law which includes the RCEF was signed by President Rody Duterte only in March of 2019.
Under the RTL, the P10-B RCEF is allocated as follows: P5-B for Mechanisation to be handled by PhilMech, P3-B for Inbred Seeds to be handled by PhilRice, P1-B for Credit and P1-B for technical skills development and training to be handled by Technical Skills Development Authority (P700-M), PhilRice (P100-M), PhilMech (P100-M) and Agricultural Training Institute (P100-M).
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