Barangay Tagpos, Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija – Binisita ko kahapon ang grupo ng mga magsasaka ng palay sa liblib na barangay na ito ng No. 1 Rice Producing Province sa buong Pilipinas upang marinig ang hinaing ng ating mga magsasaka sa epekto ng Rice Tariffication Law.
Isa lang ang kanilang daing: Suriin muli ang isinulong ng mga Economic Managers na Rice Tariffication Law dahil bumagsak ang presyo ng kanilang palay mula P21 kada kilo noong panahon na ako ang Secretary of Agriculture to only P11 – P13 per kilo today.
Pinangungunahan ni Danilo Bolos, isang engineer na dating OFW, the farmers told me that the RTL had brought so much miseries to the lives of the country’s rice farmers.
They feel sad that the Economic Managers had remained deaf and insenstive to their plea for help and even ignored recommendations made by different local government leaders and government agencies assigned in the field.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) which I headed for two years and 2 months was one of the agencies in the field which submitted an official request, approved by the MinDA Governing Board for a review of the RTL but even this was not heeded by the Economic Managers.
Bolos was one of the farmer leaders who joined me and others representing the Rice Sector who met with President Rody Duterte in Malacañang and pleaded that the proposed RTL be suspended.
The Economic Managers, however, prevailed by convincing the President that with the unimpeded importation of rice, the price of Rice in the market would go down by as much as P7 per kilo.
They also claimed that the rice industry would be boosted because financial support from the Tariffs collected would be given to the rice farmers to improve their productivity.
The RTL was the cause of my dispute and falling out with the Economic Managers led by the powerful Secretary of Finance Carlos G. Dominguez who urged the President to fire me because he said I was incompetent.
(To ease the pressure on the President, I opted to submit a voluntary resignation and I was given a new assignment as Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority.)
As things turned out, the Economic Managers have been proven wrong but they are too proud to admit their mistake.
The RTL, its review, amendment or possible abrogation, will be among the first and immediate legislations that I will introduce should I, with God’s grace, win a seat in the Senate next year.
#ListenToTheVoiceOfPeople!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Video by Mayette Tudlas)
https://www.facebook.com/100044577333084/videos/904292570494627
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