FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
1 
S. No. 
Introduced by Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution mandates that the State shall “promote industrialization and full employment 
based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform.” A transformed agricultural 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 meet his basic needs and to enhance his self-esteem. 
For thepalay 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, thus, limiting his income to a fraction of the value of the palay harvested. 
Yet, as the pernicious practice of rice cartels indicates, a bigger income is earned fiom 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, rice mills and transport 
facilities to be provided by the government and acquired by fanners’ cooperatives at cost to be 
amortized for a period of time. The farmers’ control and ownership of the storage, milling and 
transport facilities in rice production will markedly increase his income. 
Corollarily, the bill encourages the formation and development of farmers’ cooperatives which 
will own and manage the post-harvest facilities. 
In the long term, the bill will end the palay and rice price subsidies, thus, giving budgetary relief 
to the govermnent. 
The bottom line is to make rice, rather than palay, the end-product of the farmers to assure their 
economic stability. 
The enactment of this bill is earnestly requested. 
AN+O&IO “SONNY” F. TRILLANES IV 
Senator 
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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
Introduced by Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING POST-HARVEST FACILITIES TO RICE FARMERS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Post-Harvest Facilities Support 
Act of 2008. ’’ 
SEC. 2. Declaration ofPo1iq. - It is the policy of the State to promote agricultural and 
rural development. Specifically, the State aims to raise farm incomes to a level high enough to 
allow the farmers to satisfy their material needs and enhance their self-esteem. It is also the 
policy of the State to encourage and strengthen non-government organizations, such as farmers 
organizations and cooperatives. 
SEC. 3. Post-Harvest Facilities. - The Department of Public Works and Highways, in 
consultation with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and 
farmers 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 shall be the beneficiary of at least one 
warehouse and rice mill. 
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SEC. 4. Additionally, the Department of Trade and Industry, in consultation with the 
Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and farmers cooperatives, shall 
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provide the equipment and machinery required to operate these warehouses and rice mills as well 
as the necessq transport facilities. 
SEC. 5. Acquisition by Farmers Cooperatives. - The warehouses and rice mills, 
including the equipment and machinery required to operate them, shall be sold at cost to 
accredited farmers cooperatives which will be given 25 years to amortize the facilities. 
SEC. 6. Funding. - The amount of One Billion Pesos (Pl-B) is initially appropriated for 
the program. In subsequent years, funding for the program shall be incorporated in the General 
Appropriations Act, to come from, among others, the savings realized from the phasing out of 
the palay and rice subsidies, and the accumulated amortizations of farmers cooperatives for the 
facilities. 
SEC. 7. Rules and Regulations. - 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 implementing rules and regulations. 
SEC. 8. Separability Clause. - 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 in 
full force and effect. 
SEC. 9. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, proclamations, rules and 
regulations, and other issuances, inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly. 
SEC. 10. Efsectivity. -This Act shall take effect upon its approval. 
Approved, 
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