THE Senate Committee on agriculture and food was told at a hearing Wednesday that very little of the initial release of funds for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) went to farmers, with 80% captured by the Department of Agriculture (DA) National Rice Program.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in December 2018 released P5 billion for the RCEF, a component of the Rice Tariffication Law which by law is entitled to P10 billion a year from rice import tariffs, of which Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said P4 billion was allocated to the National Rice Program.

“With respect to the P4 billion initially released to the Department in December last year, it is reported by our officials that around P2.8 billion has been utilized for farm mechanization; of which P2.75 billion was spent on production-related farm machinery,” Mr. Dar told the panel on Wednesday.

“P241 million for small-scale irrigation facilities was given to 6,658 farmer groups and cooperatives in all regions in the country; roughly P1 billion went for the same program, benefiting 181,526 farmers; the remaining P200 million had been spent for buffer stocking for quick response.”

The Rice Tariffication Law was enacted in February, going into the books as Republic Act No. 11203.

The DA added that the DBM sourced the P5 billion from unprogrammed funds, which it said may be used fully or partially for rice programs.

Senator Cynthia A. Villar, the committee chair, also asked the DA to report on the utilization of the P7-billion budget for the National Rice Program.

“Alam ko may P7 billion kayong Rice Program, dapat ‘yun ang ginamit niyo pero ang ginamit niyo P4 billion ng RCEF (I know you have P7 billion in funding for the Rice Program, but you ended up using P4 billion from RCEF),” she said. “Wala naman ditong ibinigay kung san dinala ‘yung P7 billion. (I have yet to see an accounting of the P7 billion)” — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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