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Drug parcels claimant faces raps

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) on Monday said it had probable cause to indict the claimant of parcels that contained more than P218 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” at the Ninoy Aquino Interna-tional Airport (NAIA).

“May this be a warning to those who continue to associate themselves with illegal drugs,” Secretary of Justice Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said in a statement on Monday. “[We] will never stop until we attain our ultimate goal of a 100% drug-free Philippines.”

The DoJ said the claimant of the contraband in four carton parcels declared as metal machinery mufflers from a sender in Zimbabwe will be charged with customs violations and illegal drugs charges.

A total of 31.76 kilograms of “shabu” were seized from the claimant of the parcels. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana

Hontiveros urges gov’t to ensure proper use of agri import permits

PHILSTAR

SENATOR Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel urged the government on Monday to ensure the proper use of import permits for agricultural products after the President’s order to ease the importation process for these goods.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., through Administrative Order No. 20 signed on April 18, ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA) to work with the Finance and Trade departments to streamline policies on the importation of agricultural products and remove non-tariff barriers.

“Even with the easing of regulations and non-tariff barriers in importing agricultural products, we still need to ensure the proper use of import permits,” Ms. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in a statement released in Filipino. “During harvest seasons or when production is rich, appropriate taxes on imports must be imposed to deter dumping that causes losses for our farmers, fisherfolk and livestock caretakers.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez

SC overturns Comelec’s junking of disqualification case vs governor

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THE SUPREME Court (SC) has ruled that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) abused its discretion by dismissing a petition for the disqualification of Cagayan gubernatorial candidate Manuel N. Mamba during the 2022 elections on the grounds of the “timeliness” in filing the petition.

The decision, penned by Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, found that the Comelec en banc’s junking of the petition filed by Mr. Mamba’s rival for the elective post, Ma. Zarah Rose De Guzman-Lara, was unjustified.

Ms. De Guzman-Lara filed her petition through e-mail on May 10, 2022, bidding to disqualify Mr. Mamba “on the grounds of massive vote-buying and unlawful disbursement of public funds.”

The Comelec Second Division issued a resolution that disqualified Mr. Mamba after finding he violated a section of the Omnibus Election Code, prohibiting the “unauthorized release, disbursement, or expenditure of public funds during the campaign period.”

However, the Comelec en banc reversed the resolution, citing grounds on the timeliness of Ms. De Guzman-Lara’s filing of the petition.

In ruling that the Comelec had abused its discretion in this case, the SC cited that: “Under Section 3, Rule 25 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure, disqualification petitions shall be filed any day after the last day for filing of certif-icates of candidacy (COCs) but not later than the date of proclamation. A petition for disqualification can be filed even after the exact time of the proclamation of a candidate, so long as it was filed within the same day.”

Since Mr. Mamba was proclaimed on May 11, 2022, at 1:39 a.m., the petition e-mailed by Ms. De Guzman-Lara the day before, was found valid by the High Court.

“Practicable realities borne by technological advances must likewise be considered, such as those resulting from filings made through email. Actual receipt of pleadings by email is not limited to the physical structures of an agency, which remain open during certain hours of the day,” the SC decision read.

As a result, the High Court ordered the Comelec en banc to exercise “proper disposition of Ms. De Guzman-Lara’s petition for disqualification” against Mr. Mamba.

In a Viber message to BusinessWorld, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyer President Ephraim B. Cortez explained that “the SC did not rule on the merits of the disqualification but only on whether the disqualification was filed out of time or not.”

“It remanded the case to the Comelec en banc to rule on the questions raised by Mamba on the Decision issued by the 2nd Division of the Comelec. So the merits are still under contention,” he added. — Chloe Mari

PDEA seizes P6.8-M ‘shabu’ in Marawi City

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY — Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operatives seized P6.8 million worth of “crystal meth,” locally known as “shabu,” from two dealers entrapped in Marawi City last weekend.

Gil Cesario P. Castro, director of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters on Monday that the two men, aged 47 and 49, who yielded a kilo of “shabu” in the drug sting at a secluded area in the residential village of Saduc are set to be charged with drug trafficking.

Last April 8, PDEA-BARMM agents also seized P34 million worth of “shabu” from another drug dealer who fell in a similar buy-bust operation in Barangay Matalin in Malabang town in the second district of Lanao del Sur province. — John Felix M. Unson

NEDA supports ‘well-targeted’ RCEF as DA seeks extension

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THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said it supports a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) that is well-targeted, amid a campaign by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to extend the fund’s op-erating life.

“NEDA is looking at that issue. There are pros, there are cons (to extending). I would like to think that keeping the RCEF and targeting it well, using it well to improve the productivity on rice is not a bad idea,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters on the sidelines of a forum Monday.

“But at the same time, the President has also issued an Administrative Order reducing unnecessary barriers to imports especially when there are domestic shortages so that inflation will be averted, so things like that would need to be examined,” he said.

The Philippines has been beset by high rice prices and damage caused by El Niño, threatening the harvest and raising the prospect of supply constraints exerting upward pressure on prices.

The RCEF seeks to allocate funds from import tariffs to improve the competitiveness of the rice industry.

The fund is a component of the Rice Tariffication Law of 2019, which went into the books as Republic Act No. 11203. RCEF was originally set to operate for five years, receiving P10 billion worth of rice import tariffs each year to improve farm productivity. The tariff allocations are set to expire in June.

The DA has said it wants to extend RCEF’s life to further fund postharvest facilities, farm mechanization, and the distribution of fertilizer.

The DA is also preparing a proposal to increase the P10-billion annual allocation, Agriculture Secretary Francisco T. Laurel, Jr. said last week.

If the extension is approved, Mr. Balisacan said the government must ensure that the tariffs collected from rice imports will be dedicated to improving productivity in the rice industry.

On the proposal to increase the P10-billion allocation, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said the performance of RCEF needs to be reviewed.

Senator Cynthia A. Villar has proposed to raise the RCEF allocation to P20 billion a year, with a six-year extension of operations.

Rice inflation hit 24.4% in March, the highest since the 24.6% posted in February 2009. Rice was a major contributor to the 3.7% uptick in March inflation. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

Gov’t signals preparations for onion, pork, fertilizer reserves

THE NATIONAL Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) said its views were solicited on a proposal to build up a 10-day reserve of key agricultural products, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

DTI Consumer Protection Group Assistant Secretary Amanda F. Nograles said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) floated draft Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the Price Act covering the building up of commod-ity reserves at an NPCC meeting Monday.

“(During the meeting) we were able to point out that the target for the buffer stocks are onion, pork, and fertilizers,” Ms. Nograles said, in addition to rice, corn and sugar.

“The goal of this, in addition to creating a market-based mechanism to decrease the price by increasing the supply, is to deter hoarders and those who are engaged in illegal price manipulation,” she added.

She said that this will be the first time that the government will invoke the provision on buffer stocks since the Price Act was implemented.

Trade Undersecretary Jose Edgardo G. Sunico said that the plan is to maintain a reserve equivalent to 10 days of consumption.

“This will be enough to address problems when it comes to stabilizing our prices, and we will also coordinate with the private sector to ensure that the 10 days worth of inventory will have storage, whether that’s warehousing or cold storage,” Mr. Sunico said.

Ms. Nograles said that the IRR is currently unsigned since the members of the NPCC were only asked to comment on the draft.

“So far, there is still no indication when it will be signed or when it will be made effective. However, under Section 9 of the Price Act, there is no provision that says that there is a need to create an IRR,” she said.

“The IRR merely provides guidelines on how it will be implemented. So, we defer to the DA on their timelines and their official position as to whether they will wait to issue the IRR or actually enforce the rules,” she added.

She also said that the DA will also determine the volumes held in reserve,.

“The (Philippine Statistics Authority) doesn’t estimate the daily requirements, so we do not have a basis, but the IRR provides for a maximum of 10 days of buffer stock,” she added.

However, Ms. Nograles said that the government will need additional funding to build up the reserves as it is not provided for in the General Appropriations Act. — Justine Irish DP Tabile

Impact of import streamlining on food prices deemed uncertain

By Adrian H. Halili, Reporter

THE streamlined approval process for agricultural imports may not result in lower food prices while endangering the livelihoods of domestic producers, analysts said.

“There is no assurance that relaxing non-tariff measures will result in lower consumer prices. And it might only encourage smuggling, undervaluation and misdeclaration of imports,” Federation of Free Farmers Na-tional Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said in a Viber message.

Administrative Order No. 20 (AO 20) instructed the Departments of Agriculture (DA), Finance (DoF), and Trade and Industry (DTI) to simplify the administrative procedures for agricultural imports, as well as remove non-tariff barriers.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said the order was issued to ensure food security and bolster supply.

The DA was also tasked with reviewing the guidelines for importing sugar and fisheries products.

“The government (has) reduced the tariffs on prime commodities like rice, pork, and corn. Tariffs on other products are already very low. But these (measures) have not reduced retail prices,” Mr. Montemayor added.

Last year, the President approved Executive Order (EO) No. 50, extending the reduced tariff regime for rice imports to 35% for another year, applicable to shipments within or exceeding the minimum access volume.

Corn tariffs were set at 5% and 15% for in-quota and out-of-quota shipments, respectively. Pork tariffs were retained at 15% for shipments within the quota and 25% for those exceeding the quota.

Leonardo A. Lanzona, an economics professor with the Ateneo de Manila, said the order will not solve the country’s long-term supply problem.

“Allowing more imports can be a way of reducing inflation, mostly favoring consumers. General prices might have been reduced but remain higher than expected,” Mr. Lanzona said in a Messenger chat.

Inflation picked up to 3.7% in March from 3.4% in February and 7.6% a year earlier. Food inflation accelerated to 5.7%, the strongest reading since the 5.8% posted in November.

Danilo V. Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. said in a Viber message that AO 20 may have a short-term impact on inflation but may “damage agricultural production over the long term.

“AO 20 will encourage and incentivize imports… If producers cannot compete with imports… farmers will leave farming and do something else to earn a living,” Mr. Fausto added.

NFA starts paying higher palay buying prices

THE National Food Authority (NFA) said Monday that it started paying the new, increased rates for procuring palay (unmilled rice), with prices paid to farmers varying by location.’’

“This is unique in a sense that provinces will have different prices depending on the conditions in the province such as prevailing farmgate price, remaining harvest, and most importantly the target palay procurement for the area,” NFA Acting Administrator Larry Lacson said in a statement.

The NFA Council, earlier approved the increased buying price for palay at P23 to P30 per kilogram (kg) for dry and clean palay and P17 to P23 per kg for fresh palay.

Clean and dry palay should at least be 90% pure and have a moisture content of no more than 14%, while fresh and wet palay must have a moisture range of 22-29.9%.

“The NFA Council had to raise buying prices for palay after prolonged high farmgate prices,” it said, citing the need to obtain supply in the face of competition from private traders.

Traders were reportedly buying dry palay at P27 to 30 per kg, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The old purchase prices for dry and wet palay were set last year at P19-P23 (dry) and P16-P19 per kg (wet).

“This new pricing scheme will mark a new era for NFA palay buying,” Mr. Lacson added.

The NFA said that it discontinued the one-price scheme for palay purchases to consider the support price provided by some local government units as an alternative to private traders.

The agency is required to maintain a buffer stock of rice of about 300,000 metric tons (MT), which is sufficient for nine days’ consumption.

The national inventory of rice declined 3% to 1.37 million MT, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

Stocks held by NFA facilities declined 59.9% year on year to 41,290 MT. — Adrian H. Halili

PHL, Qatar to promote expanded visitor flow

THE Department of Tourism (DoT) said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi to expand two-way tourism as well as conferences targeted at both countries’ business communities.

“Fortifying tourism cooperation between the Philippines and Qatar by way of the signing of this memorandum of cooperation forges a stronger partnership for increased tourism exchanges between our nations,” Tourism Sec-retary Ma. Esperanza Christina G. Frasco said in a statement Monday.

“With this significant step forward, we unlock the opportunities for growth as we explore new avenues for collaboration, particularly on the aspect of tourism and business events,” she added.

The MoU was among the almost a dozen agreements signed during Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s official visit to Manila.

Under the agreement, the Philippines and Qatar will encourage two-way tourism by creating favorable conditions for visitor movement and communications.

Both countries pledged to encourage tourism investment, the exchange of expertise, statistics, and best practices, familiarization visits for media and tourism experts, and the development of tourism worker skills.

The two countries also agreed to stage exhibitions and conferences for business visitors.

“A joint working team between the Philippines and Qatar will be formed to undertake and set up the work program, execution, follow-up, and evaluation of the activities in line with the implementation of the provisions of the agreement,” the DoT said.

For 2023, the Philippines received 10,438 visitors from Qatar. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

Proclamations targeted for 11 more ecozones

THE PHILIPPINE Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said it hopes to obtain proclamations for 11 more economic zones (ecozones) this year following two proclamations in April.

On the sidelines of the Eco-Industrial Parks and Green Technologies forum Monday, PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga said that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to inaugurate the MetroCas Industrial Estates-Special Eco-nomic Zone in Cavite this week.

“We had two for this month. We had MetroCas, (which is) a manufacturing economic zone in Tanza, Cavite. The other one is ArcoVia City, an IT park in Pasig,” Mr. Panga said.

“But there are 11 more economic zones that we are eyeing to be proclaimed by the President. In fact, from what we gathered, the President would want to proclaim economic zones at his State of the Nation Address,” he add-ed.

PEZA is also looking at the release of guidelines this year for water and power to make ecozones more compliant with environmental standards.

“We already have consultants for this. We have met with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Finance Corp. All these are on the calendar,” he said.

The guidelines are also meant to make ecozones more competitive when it comes to energy and water efficiencies.

“This is the ecozone model now because the locator companies that we’ve been hosting are now demanding that they see all these elements in the ecozones: embedded power, access to clean and green production, and re-newable energy,” he said.

“So, without these facilities inside the ecozones, we can no longer be competitive because we’re up against other ecozones in ASEAN that are also aided by the different donors pushing for a clean and green pro-duction agenda. So it’s now a must,” he added.

Mr. Panga said that PEZA’s priority is to roll out the new guidelines, which will initially apply to prospective locators.

“But the idea is to make it applicable to all, given a certain window for them to catch up with these standards,” he added. — Justine Irish P. Tabile

NEDA seeks extra P100 million in funding for innovation grants

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THE NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is proposing to increase next year’s funding for programs and projects that encourage innovation by P100 million.

On the sidelines of the annual National Innovation Day forum, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said economic planners are proposing to double the budget for innovation grants to P200 million.

“For next year, we’re hoping there will be more (funding,) because obviously, there’s a lot of demand,” she told reporters.

The fund supports the government’s push to upskill innovators as authorized by Republic Act No. 11293 or the Philippine Innovation Act.

The proposed funding will form part of NEDA’s budget for next year, which will be submitted to Congress in August.

The government’s National Innovation and Strategy Document (NIASD) identifies key areas for innovation such as learning and education; health and well-being, food and agribusiness; finance; and manufacturing and trade.

The NIASD added that priority areas which also need innovation include public administration; transportation and logistics; security and defense; energy; and the blue economy and water.

The private sector may contribute to the innovation grants, Ms. Edillon said.

By mid-year, the National Innovation Council will meet ahead of the launch of the Presidential Filipinnovators Award, Ms. Edillon said. The awards are expected to take place next year.

“We are developing the guidelines for now so we put in budget for that, because we want to give national prominence to the importance of innovation as key drivers to sustainable growth,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters separately.

The government’s innovation push is expected to generate more jobs, and attract growth and investment.

“By providing some incentives and some ways of recognizing innovation, we hope to be able to prop up and mainstream innovation as part of our culture,” the NEDA Chief added.

The Philippines climbed three sports in last year’s Global Innovation Index (GII), ranking 56th out of 100. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

Gov’t urged to improve agri info system

THE government should improve digital platforms for distributing agricultural information, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said at an online seminar Monday.

“There should be a centralized repository or portal for all government agri-sites and applications, for the convenience of farmers,” Ivory R. Galang, a supervising research specialist for PIDS, said.

Ms. Galang said agricultural datasets and advisories should be consolidated on a single platform.

In a study, PIDS recommended the establishment of a high-level steering committee to oversee the harmonization of government data within digital platforms.

“We need to harmonize conflicting advisories or recommendations. It needs to be fixed so that there will be no confusion and the information given becomes effective,” she added.

It added that the creation of a single government portal that links to the various advisory tools should unify the numerous farm advisory applications.

“We are suggesting a single portal where different applications are housed, to make it easier for farmers and agricultural extension workers,” Ms. Galang said.

However, PIDS said 42.4% of farmers and fisherfolk get their information through training, coaching, or mentoring.

It added that only 4.8% use the internet.

Due to the lack of infrastructure for information and communications technology in far flung areas, uneven access to this service becomes a problem,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Galang added that there should be a centralized online marketplace for micro, small and medium enterprises selling agri-food products.

“We are envisioning a single government e-commerce platform through the (Department of Trade and Industry) so that they can consolidate the various platforms and avoid confusion,” she added. — Adrian H. Halili

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