Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES;
Quezon City >

First Regular Session
House Bill No. = * i 5

Introduced by HONORABLE EDCEL C. LAG!

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘The Constitution mandates that the State shall “promote industrialization and full
employment based on sound i agrarian reform.”

(underscoring supplied) A transformed agricuttural sector becomes a reliable market for
the consumer goods and farm implements produced by the industrial sector. Through the

multiplier process, an initial impulse of agricultural activity spreads to other sectors of the
economy.

Agricultural development, however, can be an end in itself. The income of.the
farmer must be raised to allow him to satisfy his basic needs and to enhance his self-
esteem.

For the farmer's income to increase, his value added in rice production must rise.
Over the decades the farmer's contribution to rice production has been confined to tilling
the land and harvesting the crop. Necessarily, his income has been limited to a fraction of
the value of palay harvested.

Yet, as the pernicious practice of rice cartels indicates, a sizeable income is earned
from the time the harvested palay leaves the farm to the time milled rice reaches the
market.

This bill proposes that the farmer gets the lion’s share in this off-farm income.
Hence, the proposal to have the farmer own post-harvest facilities like warehouses and
rice mills to be built by the government. His contribution to the storage and milling stages
of rice production will markedly increase his income.

Corollarily, the bill encourages the formation and development of farmer
cooperatives which will own and manage the post-harvest facilities.

In the long term, the bill will render the palay and rice price subsidies unnecessary
and will therefore be a source of budgetary relief for the government.

The bottom line is to make rice the end-product of the farmers to assure their
economic stability. For as long as palay is their end-product their lives will be as wretched
as ever despite continuing palay and rice price subsidies which barely benefit them.

Tt is hoped that this bill, because of its critical immediacy, will be seriously
considered for approval.

EDCEL C. aan


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Quezon City

First Regular Session

House Bill No.__15

—_—.
Introduced by HONORABLE EDCEL C. LAGMAN

AN ACT
PROVIDING POST-HARVEST FACILITIES TO RICE FARMERS

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the “Post-Harvest Facilities Support Act of

SEC. 2. It is the policy of the State to promote agricultural and, more broadly, rural
development. Specifically, the State alms to raise farm incomes to a level high enough to
allow the farmers to satisfy their material needs and enhance thelr self-esteem. It Is also
the policy of the State to encourage and strengthen non-government organizations, such
as farmer organizations.

SEC. 3. The Department of Public Works and Highways, in consultation with the
Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and farmer cooperatives,
shall construct warehouses and rice mills in every rice-producing municipality and city in
the Philippines: Provided, That in the initial phase of the program, every district with at
least one rice-producing municipality shail be the beneficiary of at least one warehouse
and rice mill.

SEC. 4. The Department of Trade and Industry, in consultation with the
Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and farmer cooperatives,
shall provide the equipment and machinery necessary to operate these warehouses and
tice mills.

SEC. 5. The warehouses and rice mills, including the equipment and machinery
required to operate them, shall be sold to the accredited farmer cooperatives which will
be given 25 years to amortize the facilities without interest.

SEC. 6. The amount of P500 million is initially appropriated for the program. In
subsequent years, the amount necessary to pursue the program shail be Incorporated in
the General Appropriations Act, and the funding shall come from, among others, the
savings realized from the phasing out of the palay and rice subsidies and from
amortizations then accumulated.

SEC. 7. Within thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Act, the Department of
Public Works and Highways, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian
Reform and the Department of Trade and Industry shall jointly promulgate the necessary
rules and regulations to implement this Act.


SEC. 8. If any provision in this Act or the application thereof is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the validity of other provisions not affected thereby, shall be considered
in full force and effect.

SEC. 9. All laws, decrees, orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, and other
issuances, inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 10. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved,