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Pamalakaya slams DA plan to tap Church as distributors of NFA rice
People need cheap rice, not cheap gimmick, group says

The fisherfolk activist group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Sunday assailed a government plan to tap church organizations and civic associations to help the Department of Agriculture distribute rice obtained from the National Food Authority.

“What kind of state mindset is this? As far as we are concerned the people need enough supply of cheap and affordable rice, not cheap gimmick. Secretary Arthur Yap is trivializing this very sensitive issue,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

In a radio interview on the program “Para Sa Yo’ Bayan” aired over dzmm, Secretary Yap said he will be meeting with some-church based groups and civil organizations next week to discuss the details of the plan asking them to help distribute NFA rice to their members.

“This idea of Secretary Yap is one of the craziest ideas this government has ever had. We hope the decent thinking people in the Christian and other faith-based communities will reject Secretary Yap’s first-rate stupidity,” the Pamalakaya leader said.

Secretary Yap said the supply of NFA rice will be regulated by the government, adding that if there will be an increase in the supply of NFA rice in the market it would be via faith-based group and not in the traditional distribution.

Pamalakaya said the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should rebuke this idea of Secretary Yap to convert churches, religious establishments and parishes as small warehouses or trading posts for NFA rice, saying it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that rice and other needs of the people are addressed and delivered.

“The CBCP must reject this ridiculous proposal because the government is hell bent in making a daring escape from the terrible situation that they created in the past and at present by making this issue trivial and comical at the same time,” the group said.

The militant group said instead of resorting to some cheap gimmicks and cheap tricks, the NFA should pursue its mandate of buying locally produced palay from Filipino farmers at P 15 per kilo to prevent the rice cartel and other unscrupulous rice traders from monopolizing the procurement and distribution of rice all over the country.

“The NFA is legally mandated to buy at least 10 percent of the total palay harvest per year. However, the food authority merely buys 1% of the country’s total rice yield per year. At the maximum, the NFA should buy 25% of the total rice harvest per year to make a dramatic impact and keep prices of rice at affordable levels,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya earlier rejected the plan of Malacañang and Agriculture secretary Yap to reduce tariffs imposed on imported rice products, asserting that such policy would lead to the mass flooding of rice imports in the local market at the expense of small farmers and consumers.

The militant group accused Malacañang and the agriculture department of killing the local rice production in the country by deluding the people with rice imports at the expense of local farmers and the food security of the nation. Pamalakaya said increasing dependence on rice imports is not and will never by a solution to this ongoing rice crisis confronting the people. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:54 | link | comments |

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