• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The P20 per kilogram rice is attainable and can be sustained, if the agricultural sector will be modernized, former Senator Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan, who formerly chaired the Senate committee on agriculture and food, was in Bacolod City on Wednesday as part of his senatorial campaign for the May 12 elections.
“We should have at least P200 billion increase annually in the next six years so that we can really modernize our agricultural sector,” he added. “That’s when you achieve the P20 kilo rice.”
The Department of Agriculture is set to launch the P20 per kilo rice program, following the Commission on Elections approval to roll out the initiative.
It said the rice will come from the buffer stocks of the National Food Authority, which reached a five-year high of 7.17 million 50-kilogram bags of milled rice.
As of the latest data, the inventory has risen further to 7.56 million bags which is enough to feed the country for an estimated 10 days.
Also a former presidential assistant on food security and agricultural modernization, Pangilinan said “we can make it sustainable, if we have more financial capital flowing into agricultural and fishery sectors, by way of post-harvest facilities, equipment, crop accident and health insurances, as well as the necessary infrastructure.”
Pangilinan, who got the endorsements of Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and former Governor Rafael Coscolluela, said “it can be done, but you need to put your money where your mouth is, so that there will be food in our people’s mouth.”
Pangilinan, who thanked the support of Lacson and Coscolluela, acknowledged that the endorsement is expected to boost his senatorial bid, considering Negros Occidental is among the vote-rich provinces in the country, with registered voters of more than two million. | GB
