HOUSE Agriculture and Food Committee Chair Jose T. Panganiban, Jr. has filed a bill proposing to increase the required rice buffer stock of the National Food Authority (NFA) to 60 days from 15 days.
House Bill 8131, or the proposed National Food Security Act of 2018, was filed on Aug. 22, amid a supply crisis and rising prices for the staple grain.
“This bill seeks to institute new measures for the NFA to more effectively handle its role of ensuring national food security and stabilizing rice supply and prices,” the ANAC-IP representative said in his explanatory note.
He also noted the bill is in line with other government efforts such as the ongoing push to legislate the Revised Agricultural Tariffication Act, which points to the need to “review and amend the NFA charter.”
Mr. Panganiban said initial capital of P25-billion needs to be allocated to the NFA for it to maintain a 60-day buffer.
“The budget for the purchase of rice stocks from the Authority for any pro-poor programs… shall be included in their respective allocations in the annual General Appropriation Act,” according to the bill.
The NFA, as proposed, will be reclassified as a Government Instrumentality vested with Corporate Powers (GICP), which makes it neither an agency nor a corporation. It shall also be an attached agency of the Office of the President, which can only be abolished upon approval of Congress.
The bill proposes governance by the seven-member Food Security Board, headed by the NFA Administrator with a representative from the Department of Agriculture as its vice chairman.
The Departments of Social Welfare and Development and Interior and Local Government, rice farmers and corn farmers shall also have seats on the governing board.
The bill also empowers the authority to hand out fines or imprisonment for “serious” offenses like hoarding, profiteering, and cartel behavior. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
