Congressional body to review CARL

The Congressional Oversight Committee on Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM) has decided to review the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) to assess its impact on farmers’ productivity and the national economy, Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said yesterday.

Magsaysay, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and COCOFM, said it is necessary to fine tune the CARL with appropriate amendments for its effective implementation.

The COCOFM unanimously adopted the resolution calling for CARL’s review in a recent en banc meeting.

Aside from Magsaysay, the COCOFM members present were Senators Manny Villar Jr. Edgardo Angara and Juan Flavier, and Reps. Alfredo Maranon (Negros Occidental), Benjamin Cruz (Party list), Celso Lobregat (Zamboanga City), Generoso Tulagan (Pangasinan), Junie Cua (Quirino) and Prospero Nograles (Davao City).

Maranon, COCOFM co-chairman, said there is a need to conduct an inventory of all land reform beneficiaries.

In a related development, Sen. Ralph Recto warned yesterday that the county would lose rice worth P22.8 billion due to poor post-harvest facilities.

"This is almost twice the P11.9 billion we pay for the 1.14 million metric tons of rice we import at $200 per metric ton," he said.

Recto, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means, said that 2.2 million metric tons of the projected harvest of 12.95 million metric tons of palay would be wasted.

"Assuming the non-premium rice to cost P16 per kilo, we will lose P22.8 billion due to lack of post-harvest facilities," he said.

He called for the appropriation of funds for basic post-harvest facilities like silos and dryers so farmers would be able to feed more Filipinos and the government would save on expensive dollars used for rice imports.

"What we lost because of poor harvest facilities is also greater than the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Program’s total budget this year of P19.495 billion, or next year’s P20.1 billion," Recto pointed out.

In another development, Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta urged the Arroyo administration yesterday to deploy more rolling stores to force rice retailers to bring down the price of the staple to the government target of P15 to P16 a kilo.

"The National Food Authority should pinpoint the areas were rice is sold at high prices so that it could deploy more rolling stores in those places," she said.

According to reports, the NFA is having difficulty pushing down the prices of commercial rice because the staple is sold as high as P25 a kilo in certain places.

Oreta recalled that it was President Arroyo herself who had pointed out that food eats up a lion’s share of the daily budget of ordinary Filipinos. The President also pledged to keep prices of basic goods, particularly food items, stable despite the recent series of oil price increases and other external economic factors.