EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE +) i are, SEP_ 3 2019
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) NE
First Regular Session ) os, BY:
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H. B. No. 4913

Introduced by Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto
6th District of Batangas

AN ACT
PROVIDING DIRECT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO FILIPINO RICE FARMERS,
ESTABLISHING FOR THE PURPOSE THE PANTAWID MAGSASAKANG PILIPINO
PROGRAM, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The rescission of quantitative import restrictions on rice serves two fundamental
purposes. First, it intends to reduce the prices of rice in the market and to make the food
staple more accessible to the poor and low-income families. Second, it seeks to protect the
interests of rice farmers by providing a means to raise the farmers’ income and consequently,
their competitiveness relative to rice farmers in other rice-producing countries. As Dr. Emil
Q. Javier noted’, attaining the first purpose is relatively straightforward but achieving the
second is challenging and problematic.

The challenges and issues in improving agricultural incomes and competitiveness,
while having been in existence prior to the effectivity of Republic Act No. 11203,
nonetheless remain largely unaddressed. Provision of farm machineries would not
immediately aid in reducing labor cost, improving yield volume and quality, nor optimizing
farm operations, as the promise of efficiency might not offset the cost of owning, operating
and maintaining farm machineries for small and at times economically nonviable farms and
landholdings. Developing, propagating and promoting inbred palay seeds would not instantly
lead to improvement in rice production volume because the system that will provide inbred
seeds to rice farmers remains largely inadequate and extensively vulnerable to corruption.

* Javier, E. a {2o1s). “No rush in crafting IRR of the veal een Act.” Accessed from
19) vireo jon-act on 7 August 2019.

NECEIVED


Extension of an additional credit line would not necessarily increase farmers’ preference
towards government credit over informal loans, because the issues regarding the tedious
documentary and other requirements imposed upon farmer-lendees and the chronic problems
concerning the economic equity, efficiency and viability of agricultural lands remain
unresolved. Agricultural extension services can only be effective if such programs are
appropriately combined with other government interventions such as extensive research,
intensive market development, and accessible credit supply — most of which are, at present,
insufficiently extended to rice farmers. Most importantly, these interventions would do little
to address the single, most devastating impact of the rescission of quantitative rice import

restrictions have on rice farmers: the drastic decline in farmers’ income from rice production.

Hence, this bill seeks to provide direct financial assistance to rice farming households
by instituting a Pantawid Magsasakang Pilipino Program. In this proposed measure, the
allocation of tariff revenues collected in excess of P10 billion shall be provided to farmers in
the form of a conditional cash transfer program. Moreover, it mandates the provision of rice
insurance to protect rice crops against insurable risks. Lastly, it provides farmers with
additional income through temporary employment in government projects.

These interventions are sought in cognizance of the short-term obligation to mitigate

the abrupt reduction of farmer incomes caused by the rescission of quantitative rice import
restrictions and the medium- to long-term need to keep farmers producing food staples, in
line with the twin objectives of improving overall agricultural productivity and achieving
food security.



EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE. )

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. No. 4913

Introduced by Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto
6th District of Batangas

AN ACT
PROVIDING DIRECT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO FILIPINO RICE FARMERS,
ESTABLISHING FOR THE PURPOSE THE PANTAWID MAGSASAKANG PILIPINO
PROGRAM, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

Section 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Pantawid Magsasakang
Pilipino Act.”

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. ~ It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
promote a just and dynamic social order through poli

ies that provide adequate social
services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of
life for all.

‘Towards this end, and in line with the constitutional mandate to Congress to give
highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the
people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove
cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good,
the State shall formulate and implement programs and projects guided by a national strategy
ity of food

to reduce poverty in the countryside and ensure the sufficiency and accessi
products for all.

Sec. 3. Pantawid Magsasakang Pilipino Program. — The Pantawid Magsasakang
Pilipino Program, hereinafter referred to as the Program, is hereby established as a national
strategy for rural poverty reduction and program for ensuring food security and sufficiency
that provides conditional cash transfer to poor rice farming households to mitigate the decline


of rice farming incomes that may have been caused by the enforcement of the liberalization
of importation, exportation and trade of rice.

The provision of conditional cash transfer under the Program shall be complementary
and supplementary to other similar undertakings of the government and shall not be a
replacement for any existing programs for rice and rice farmers already implemented by any
government agency.

Sec. 4. Selection of Qualified Household Beneficiaries. — On a nationwide basis, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) shall, in consultation with the
Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), select
qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries of the program using a standardized targeting
system, The DSWD shall conduct regular revalidation of beneficiary targeting at least once
every three (3) years.

Sec. 5. Eligible Beneficiaries. — To be eligible to receive cash grants under the
Program, rice farming households or farmers must meet the following criteria:

(a) Classified as poor or near-poor based on a standardized targeting system and the
poverty threshold issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority at the time of selection; and

(b) Willing to comply with the conditions specified in Section 8 of this Act.

Sec. 6. Conditional Cash Transfer to Rice Farming Household-Beneficiaries. ~The
Advisory Council created under Republic Act No. 11310, otherwise known as the “Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4PS) Act,” shall determine the amount of cash grants to be
extended to rice farming household-beneficiaries based on the following factors:

(a) The amount of the annual tariff revenues from rice importation in excess of Ten
billion pesos (P10,000,000,000.00), based on the collection recorded in the second fiscal year
preceding the current fiscal year;

(b) The number of eligible rice farming household-beneficiaries as identified by the
standardized targeting system as provided in Section 7 of this Act;

(©) The administrative and financial cost of providing cash grants to qualified rice
farming household-beneficiaries; and

(d) Other factors that affect the level of available funding or the cost of
implementation of this Act.

Sec. 7. Coverage in the Rice Insurance Program. ~ All qualified rice farming
household-beneficiaries of the Program as identified by the standardized targeting system
shall automatically be covered by the Rice Insurance Program of the Philippine Crop

Insurance Corporation (PCIC): Provided, That the insurance premium for rice insurance shall

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be fully subsidized by the National Government: Provided, further, That the amount of
premium payment for rice insurance for qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries shall
not be deducted from the appropriations provided under Section 17 of this Act: Provided,
‘finally, That the provision of subsidized rice insurance to qualified rice farming household-
beneficiaries shall be complementary and supplementary to the conditional cash transfer
program as provided in this Act.

Sec. 8. Conditions for Entitlement. — All qualified rice farming household-
beneficiaries shall comply with the following requirement for continued program eligibility:

(a) The qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries must continue to engage in
palay production;

(b) The responsible person/s from qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries who
actually engage/s in rice production must register with the DA under the Registry System for
Basic Sectors in Agriculture;

(©) The qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries must propagate and use inbred
palay seeds to be developed, bred, registered, certified and distributed by the Philippine Rice
Research Institute as provided under Republic Act No. 11203;

(@) The qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries must apply for subsidized
insurance coverage as provided in Section 7 of this Act no later than thirty (30) days from the
date of planting; and

(©) At least one (1) responsible person from qualified rice farming household-
beneficiaries must attend at least one (1) training program to be conducted by Philippine
Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization, Agricultural Training Institute, or
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in their respective municipality.

The DSWD may suspend any or all of the conditions for entitlement during
calamities, armed conflict, state of war or lawless violence, and other similar fortuitous
events,

Sec. 9. Noncompliance with the Conditions for Entitlement. — The responsible person
of a reported qualified houschold-beneficiary who fails to comply with the conditions set
forth in Section 8 of this Act shall be notified in writing. Further payment of cash grants shall
be suspended after four (4) months of noncompliance and the erring household-beneficiary
shall be subject to case management process of the DSWD.

The qualified rice farming household-beneficiary has one (1) year, reckoned from the
date of receipt of the written notification, to satisfy the conditions enumerated under Section


8 of this Act, after which the erring household-beneficiary shall be removed from the
Program.

Sec. 10. Mode of Cash Transfer. - The DSWD shall provide beneficiaries with direct
and secured access to cash grants through any number of Authorized Government Depository
Banks (AGDBs). For localities not adequately served by an AGDB, the DSWD may contract
the services of rural banks, thrift banks, cooperative banks and other duly-accredited financial
institutions engaged in money remittance services.

Sec. 11. Cash-for-Work for Rice Farmers Program. — To provide additional income
for rice farming household-beneficiaries, the DSWD may, in coordination with government
agencies concerned, facilitate short-term intervention to provide temporary employment to
members of qualified rice farming households. Projects that may be incorporated under the
Cash-for-Work Program shall include, but not be limited to:

(a) irrigation programs and projects of the DA and the National Irrigation
Administration;

(b) public works programs and projects of the Department of Public Works and
Highways;

(©) water supply and sanitation projects of the Department of the Interior and Local
Government and local water districts;

(@) disaster preparedness, mitigation, relief, rehabilitation, and risk reduction projects
of the Office of the Civil Defense, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Council, and other similar agencies of government; and

(©) other similar programs and projects of national government agencies,
government-owned or -controlled corporations, and local government units.

The DSWD shall determine the payment rate of cash-for-work employment:
Provided, That such payment shall be in no case lower than seventy percent (70%) of the
prevailing daily wage rate set by the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

The DSWD shall utilize the mode of cash transfer as provided in Section 10 of this
Act to transfer payment for services rendered by members of qualified rice farming
households under the Cash-for-Work for Rice Farmers Program.

Sec. 12. Lead Agency. ~The DSWD shall serve as the central planning, coordinating,
implementing and monitoring body of the Program. In the implementation of this Act, the
DSWD shall perform the following functions:


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(a) Selection and application of appropriate, effective, and cost-efficient methods in
identification and selection of qualified rice farming household-beneficiaries in coordination
with DA and DAR;

(b) Identification and selection of target rice farming houschold-beneficiaries based
on a uniform, objective and transparent selection process;

(©) Coordination with various national and local government agencies, including
non-government and private sector organizations, to ensure full implementation of the
provisions of this Act;

(d) Establishment of participatory system and methodologies to monitor and evaluate
the compliance of household-beneficiaries and the implementation of the Program;

(©) Provision of recommendation measures, rules and regulations to the Advisory
Council in order to improve the delivery of commitments made in this Act;

(®) Determination of program coverage based on a standardized targeting system;

(g) Provision of seminar-workshop and training programs to educate qualified rice
farming household-beneficiaries about the conditions and other actions pertinent to this Act;

(h) Synchronization and harmonization of the implementation of the Program with
other similar or related programs of the government;

(i) Submission of an annual report to Congress on matters pertinent to the operations
and financial status of the Program; and

() Performance of other functions as may be necessary or incidental to the proper
implementation of the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 13. Reporting. — The DSWD shall publish, on an annual basis, a full report on the
implementation of the Program during the previous fiscal year. The report shall include, but
not be limited to, financial disclosures, the number of rice farming houschold-beneficiaries
included in the Program based on geographic, socioeconomic and cultural circumstances, and
recommendations to improve the implementation of the Program. This report shall be
submitted, either in printed form or by way of electronic document, to the Congress prior to
the submission of the President’s annual budget. The Secretary of Social Welfare and
Development and the Agency’s web administrator or the web administrator's equivalent shall
be responsible for ensuring that the said report is posted on the DSWD website.

Sec. 14. Convergence of Programs and Services. ~ Within the framework of a
national poverty alleviation strategy and a comprehensive food security program, the various
agencies of government implementing multi-stakeholder programs and services for rice
farmers shall guarantee that these programs and services complement and converge

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seamlessly with the aim of ensuring that the targeted rice farming household-beneficiaries are
alleviated from poverty. Such convergence shall focus on the enhancement of operational
efficiency, ensuring the realization of program outcomes, and strengthening of inter-agency
partnerships. The government shall monitor the performance of these agencies to ensure the
sustainability of their respective programs.

Sec. 15. Monitoring and Evaluation of the Program. ~The DSWD shall monitor and
evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the Program and report its status at least
once every three (3) years in order to ensure the realization of the objectives declared in
Section 2 of this Act.

The Independent Monitoring Committee created under Republic Act No. 11310,
otherwise known as the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4PS) Act,” shall be used to
complement the monitoring activities of the DSWD in the implementation of the Program.
The Independent Monitoring Committee shall submit a report of its monitoring activities
relative to the implementation of the Program to the Advisory Council.

Sec. 16. Congressional Oversight. ~ The Congressional Oversight Committee on
Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM) shall conduct a periodic review of the
Program, considering, among others, the report of the monitoring and evaluation activities of
the DSWD and the Independent Monitoring Committee as provided in Section 15 of this Act.

Sec. 17. Appropriations. ~ The amount necessary for the implementation of the
provisions of this Act shall be sourced from the annual tariff revenues from rice importation
in excess of Ten billion pesos (P10,000,000,000.00).

Sec. 18. Prohibited Acts and Corresponding Penalties. — Any person, whether acting
in conspiracy with public officials or not, who by act or omission, inserts or allows the
insertion of data or false information, or diverts or allows the diversion of information that
‘ought to be contained in the registry, or transfers or aids in the transfer of cash grant to
persons other than the qualified rice farming houschold-beneficiaries, shall be penalized with
a fine of not less than thirty thousand pesos (P30,000.00) nor more than one hundred
thousand pesos (P100,000.00) or imprisonment of not less than three (3) months nor more
than three (3) years, or both, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That if the offense is
committed by a corporation, trust, firm, partnership, association or any other entity, the
penalty shall be imposed upon the guilty officer or officers of such corporation, trust, firm,
partnership, association or entity: Provided, further, That in addition to the penalties that may
be imposed by the court, the offender punished under this section shall be subject to perpetual
disqualification to hold public office: Provided, finally, That if the offender punished under

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this section is a public official or government employee, the accumulated leave credits and
retirement benefits, if any, shall be forfeited in favor of the State.

Sec. 19. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within thirty (30) days from
effectivity of this Act, the DSWD, DA, Department of Finance and Department of Budget
and Management shall, in coordination with other government agencies concerned and after
consultation with directly affected stakeholders, promulgate the rules and regulations to
effectively implement the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 20. Separability Clause. ~ If any portion of this Act is declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the portions or provisions which are not affected shall continue to be in full
force and effect.

Sec. 21. Repealing Clause. — All laws, acts, decrees, executive orders, issuances, and
rules and regulations or parts thereof which are contrary to and inconsistent with this Act are
hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

Sec. 22. Effectivity. ~ This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,