Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

‘1493

House Bill Nu. **

Introduced by Honorable Florida P. Robes

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected food security all over the world. It has
reduced incomes and disrupted food supply chains. The condition was exacerbated by the Russia-
Ukraine conflict which has aggravated hunger and poverty all over the world. The Philippines is
no exception to these adverse effects as Filipinos continue to feel the crisis brought about by the
exponential increase in fuel prices and ultimately the prices of all kinds of commodities.

The country’s agricultural sector plays an important part in addressing the effects of food
insecurity. The Philippines is still primarily an agricultural country with a large portion living in
rural areas engaged in agricultural activities. Recent figures showed that a quarter of Filipinos
work in this sector. However, due to the lockdown caused by the pandemic, conversion of arable
lands into subdivisions, parks and resorts, coupled with low budgetary support by the national
government along with natural calamities that regularly occur in the country, the agricultural sector
has steadily contracted for the past couple of years

To remedy the situation in order to reverse the trend of food insecurity in the country,
necessary steps must be initiated to support, diversify and transform the country’s agricultural
output through cooperatives, investments in technology and innovation that prioritize the needs of
the farmers must be put in place.

This bill addresses the longtime need of our agricultural workers especially our farmers
who were beneficiaries of land reform to be given support, access to credit, market opportunities,
among others. and to many other things. Government intervention is needed to institutionalize
ways of packaging factor inputs in agriculture to bring about innovative, efficient and competitive
modes of production and marketing. Otherwise, support services like extension, information, and
infrastructure will not be sufficient to overcome the perceived production risks that deter the farmer
from venturing into higher value crops.


This bill rationalizes and restructures the existing government organizations in order to
establish harmony and coordination between policy-making and implementation, and market-
development programs geared towards supporting the farmer as he transforms himself into an
entrepreneur.

More than food security, this bill establishes the Food Sovereignty program, as envisioned
by our President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., which puts control back in the hands of
the community by directly linking the farmers and fishermen to the consumers and thereby limiting
number of people in the value chain, adopting modern techniques, incentivizing research and
development to promote innovation and transforming agricultural workers into entrepreneurs.

To achieve all of these, this bill creates the National Agricultural Marketing Council which
will serve as the policy-making body for agricultural trading, with the Regional Agricultural
Marketing Councils as its branch offices. The following attached agencies are also created to serve
proprietary roles in market development and intervention

(a) The National Agricultural Trading Corporation (NATCOR), to function as the market
development and intervention arm of the council;

(b) The Public Warehousing Corporation, to operate Commodity Exchange Centers
(CEC); establish terminal markets all over the country, and maintain the country's buffer stocks
of food grain and other food commodities;

(©) The Agricultural Credit and Guarantee Corporation of the Philippines
(AGCREDOR) to provide credit assistance and guarantee cover on project loans and inventory
financing for commodities deposited in the warehouses of the Public Warehousing Corporation's
warehouses.

The above agencies will absorb the functions and resources of the Agribusiness Group, the
National Agribusiness Corporation, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, the Quedarl and Rural
Credit and Guarantee Corporation of the Philippines and the National Food Authority

Under the proposed set-up, the specialized functions are clearly identified, delineated and
distributed among the appropriate agencies so as to avoid conflict of interest situations that have
so often hamstrung past policy making and implementation.

In the Philippine countryside, the government must confront the challenge to develop the
market institutions that will puta stop to the massive waste of resources, bring productive
inputs together, pave the way for more innovative modes of production and deliver our products
to national, regional and international markets,

In view of the foregoing, immediate passage of this bill is earnestly requested.

FLORIDA P. ROBES


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

wo. 1493

House

Introduced by Honorable Florida P. Robes

AN ACT
TO ENHANCE FOOD SECURITY AND ULTIMATELY ACHIEVE FOOD
SOVEREIGNTY THROUGH THE EFFICIENT PRODUCTION, PROCESSING,
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS,
RATIONALIZING AND RESTRUCTURING FOR THE PURPOSE, EXISITING
GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION,
DISTRIBUTION, MARKETING AND OTHER SUPPORT PROGRAMS,
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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

Section 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “National Food Sovereignty
Act”

Section 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State to
ensure the general welfare of agricultural workers, who constitute a majority or the national
population, and are key to the production of sufficient food supplies all over the country

The State also recognizes that the agriculture sector is critical in maintaining the
affordability of food and purchasing power, especially among the poor.

It shall also be the policy of the state to ensure the attainment of food security and
ultimately food sovereignty as an essential element of national security and a critical element
of national development

For purposes of this Act food security shall be defined as the availability and stability of
food supply in a mariner accessible to every Filipino of any economic and social standing, given
any change in the country's climatic, social, political and economic condition

Food sovereignty, on the other hand, ensures the need to support local production and to
ensure farmers’ rights to define their own agricultural and food policies.


The State recognizes that the goal of food security and food sovereignty is best served
through the operation of competitive markets that will provide sufficient incentives to fanners and
producers to increase the productivity levels of their farms

In order to attain food security and food sovereignty, it is a declared policy of the State to
promote, propagate and implement a scientific and technological research and development for the
agricultural sector.

For the above purposes, the state hereby rationalizes and restructures and strengthens
existing government structures and programs on the production, processing, marketing and
distribution of agricultural products

Section 3. Creation of the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMCQ).

There is hereby created a policy-making and implementing body corporate called the
National Agricultural Marketing Council, hereinafter referred to as the Council, which shall have
the general powers and attributes of a corporation as set forth in the Corporation Law and the
particular mandate to perform the following functions, powers and responsibilities:

(a) To formulate policies, plans and programs on food production, post-harvest
handling, storage, milling, distribution and credit support, including the
coordination of its implementation among the various agencies and institutions of
the government and the private sector,

(b) To ensure the best administration of market development programs for
agricultural commodities and food products;

(c) To ensure an adequate flow of these products to consumers as well as a fair
return to producers and prevent inefficient and wasteful methods of distribution:
(d) To foster the empowerment of agricultural producers into effective associations,
cooperatives or corporations under their own control for greater unity of effort in
marketing:

(e) To promote the establishment and financing of a farm, fisheries or livestock
marketing systems of producer- owned and producer-controlled cooperative
associations and other agencies;

(£) To set and review annually the government's buffer grain stock requirements at
the national and local levels and to ensure that these requirements are achieved:

(g) To effect, with the Regional Agricultural Marketing Councils and/or other
government entities as implementing agents, the domestic procurement of the
government's buffer grain stock through purchases of warehouse receipts or
quedans of grain deposits in government, farmer-cooperatives and private
warehouses and/or by buying grain produce directly from farmer cooperatives

(h) To cause the direct importation of rice and allocation of import quotas among
private entities, especially certified and licensed farmer cooperatives

(i) To promulgate the government's "stabilization price” for grains and other
livestock to assure agricultural workers with a reasonable mark-op on their


production cost and participation in the profits that may he realized from the sale
of the government's buffer stock:

j) To reorient the country's food production policies, plans and programs in such a
way that the thrust of increasing the productivity of farmers is not only in terms of
yield per unit area but more so in the aggregate income from farming enterprises:
(k) To promote and coordinate plans and programs of assistance to producers
through input supplies, purchases, payments and other operations, including low
‘or no interest loans in partnership with available financial sources or institutions
(1) To institutionalize and actively promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural
practices at all farm levels so that steady production of various food commodities
to cope with the demands of a growing population is achieved in a way that
maintains the productivity of the soil and diminishes any adverse impact to the
immediate environment; and

(m) To undertake other tasks and activities as may be necessary to ensure the
attainment of efficient agricultural marketing systems and food security.

Section 4. Governing Council. — The powers. functions and affairs of the Council shall
be exercised and directed by a governing council to be chaired by the Executive Secretary, with
the Secretary of Agriculture as Vice Chair and with the following as members:

(a) The Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform;

(b) The Secretary of the Department of Finance;

(c) The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry;

(d) The Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways,

(e) The Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government,

(B) The Secretary of the Department of Budget Management,

(g) The Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development;

(h) The Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications; and
(i) The Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The governing council shall meet regularly at least every month on any date to be
determined by the Chairman; Provided, That the Chairman may convene special meetings to
discuss urgent matters needing immediate resolution. The council members shall he entitled to per
diem for every meeting actually attended by them and other remunerations as may be determined
by them. It shall prescribe the rules and regulations to govern its deliberations and other official
actions.

Section 5. Organization and Staff.— The management of the day-to-day operations of
the Council shall be vested in an Executive Director who shall he appointed with the rank of an
Undersecretary by the President of the Philippines.

The Council shall set up the organizational structure, staffing pattern, qualification
standard, compensation scale, functions and authorities of their officers and employees pursuant
to pertinent laws, rules and regulations being implemented by the Civil Service Commission and
the Department of Budget and Management.


Section 6. Regional Agricultural Marketing Councils (PAW). — To operate and serve
as the branch offices of the National Agricultural Marketing Council at the regional level, there
are hereby instituted Regional Agricultural Marketing Councils in all administrative regions of the
country

The Regional Agricultural Marketing Councils shall he under the administrative
supervision and control of the National Agricultural Marketing Council and shall implement in the
region the policies, plans and programs of the latter.

Section 7. Composition of the Regional Agricultural Marketing Council (RAMC). —
The Regional Agricultural Marketing Council shall be composed of

(a) All the provincial governors of the region;

(b) The Regional Director of the Department of Agriculture;

(c) A representative from the fanning/fisheries sector

(d) A representative from the agricultural marketing and trading sector; and
(e) A representative from the consumer sector

All provincial governors with the Department of Agriculture Regional Director shall by
majority vote, choose the sectoral representatives from among nominees respective submitted by
recognized sectoral associations in the region. Hereafter, the Council members shall elect their
Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other officers.

Section 8, Support Staff: — The RAMC shall appoint, from among its members or
qualified outsider, a regional director who shall manage and direct the daily operations of the
regional council

The concomitant organizational structure and plantilla of personnel shall be set up by the
regional council subject to the approval of the national council

Section. 9. Creation of the National Agricultural Trading Corporation (NATCOR).—
There is hereby created a body corporate to be known as the National Agricultural ‘Trading
Corporation (NATCOR) an attached agency to the Council hereinafter referred to as the NATCOR
which shall evolve the most efficient, dependable, economical and equitable marketing systems
for agricultural products.

Section 10. General Powers and Functions of the NATCOR. — The NATCOR shall have
the following powers and functions:

(a) To formulate a medium term agricultural market development plan which shall
be updated every year;

(b) To provide farmers and fisherfolks an up-to-date market information by the
establishment of an integrated and efficient nationwide information access
system that will guide producers and other stakeholders to make decisions on
what and how much to plant and where and when to market;


(©) To gather, analyze and disseminate market information on various foreign
countries’ food supply, domestic and export demand, local and export prices
and other relevant data;

(4) To identify markets for Philippine agricultural products and assist in the
planning of market centers, marketing channels and distribution networks to
reduce marketing costs for producers and ultimately the cost to consumers;

(e) To foster and assist in the development of new or expansion of existing
domestic and foreign markets through institutional arrangements like
contract growing, market matching, market intelligence and other
promotional activities for agricultural products,

(O To stimulate and gather scientific, engineering and technological efforts
towards filling the basic, immediate and long-term agricultural needs of the
people;

(g) Strengthen the educational system of the country so that the same will provide
a steady source of competent scientific and technological manpower for the
agricultural sector;

(h) To provide farmers, fisher folks and other persons or firms access to existing
public and private researches supporting food market development activities;

(i) To disseminate information on inspection, classification, standardization, and
grading system for all agricultural products to enhance global competitiveness,

() To formulate, as part of its market development thrust, more efficient ways,
systems and facilities for harvesting, threshing or shelling, drying, storage,
milling, packaging, post-harvest handling, transportation and/or shipping of
agricultural products for purposes of reducing costs and ensuring stable
consumer supply;

(k) To require as a tool for market information the annual registration and
publication of a directory of all persons, natural or juridical, engaged or
intending to engage in wholesaling, milling, processing, warehousing and
transporting of agricultural products, including by-products thereof:

(1) To coordinate with the Department of Transportation and Communications
towards establishing more efficient, regular, adequate, suitable and
economical systems of transporting and/or shipping of food products for
purposes of reducing marketing costs and ensuring availability of basic
transport which is central to the whole chain of agricultural production and
distribution, and


(m) To promulgate policies, plans, programs, rules and regulations, sanctions
and penalties as may be necessary for the effective exercise of the powers and
functions of the NATCOR.

Section 11. Strengthening of the Agricultural Marketing Information System. - For the
effective implementation of the policy enunciated in this Act, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics
shall be strengthened as the principal line agency of the Republic of the Philippines in agricultural
statistics and marketing information. It shall serve the data requirements of the NATCOR

Section 12. Cooperation with other Government Agencies and Private Business
Organization. - All units and agencies of the government shall support and cooperate with the
NATCOR in the implementation of its functions and programs. Likewise, private research
organizations, purchasing and consuming organizations, boards of trade, chambers of commerce,
other associations of business or trade organizations, transportation and storage agencies and
organizations, or other persons or corporations engaged in the production, transportation, storing,
processing marketing and distribution of agricultural products shall support the NATCOR in the
implementation of its functions.

Section 13. Creation of the Public Warehousing Corporation. - There is hereby created
a government-owned corporation to be known as the Public Warehousing Corporation, hereinafter
called the Corporation, which shall be attached to the Council and have the following functions
powers and responsibilities:

(a) To establish and maintain warehouses and post-harvest facilities for foods
grains and other agricultural products in all areas of production in the country;

(b) To provide warehousing/storage services and post-harvest facility assistance
for the farmers’ grain and food agricultural stocks/inventories;

(©) To issue, pursuant to existing laws and regulations, corresponding
warehouse receipts or quedan for the farmers’ grains and food inventory
deposits;

(d) To store and sale-keep the government's food or grain buffer security stocks
as directed by the Council;

(e) To lease out, sell-build-and transfer warehouses and/or post-harvest facilities
to farmer-cooperatives and federations, subject to the approval of the Council;

(f) To establish and operate Commodity Exchange Centers (CAL): and

(g) To exercise the general powers and attributes of a corporation as set forth in
the Corporation Law,

Section 14. Authorized Capital Stock of the Corporation. — The authorized capital
stock of the Corporation shall be Five billion Pesos (P5,000,000.000) divided into five million


(5,000,000) common shares of stock which shall be subscribed and paid for by the national
government and government institutions,

Section 15. Governing Board. — The powers, functions and affairs of the corporation
shall be exercised and directed by a governing board composed of the following:

(a) Executive Director of the Council as Chair:
(b) General. Manager of the Corporation as Vice-Chair;

(c) President of AGCRECOR as Member

(d) Director of NATCOR as Member, and

(e) Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics as Member

The Board shall meet regularly at least every month and convene special meetings
to discuss urgent matters. The Board members shall receive per diem for each meeting actually
officiated and other remuneration as may be determined by the Board. It shall prescribe the rules
and regulations to govern its deliberations and other official actions.

Section 16. Organization and Staff. — The management of the day-to-day operations of
the Corporation shall be vested in a general manager who shall be appointed by the Council. The
governing board shall set up the organizational structure, staffing pattern, qualification standard,
compensation scale, functions and authorities of their officers and employees pursuant to pertinent
laws, rules and regulations being implemented by the Civil Service Commission and the
Department of Budget and Management

Section 17. Commodity Exchange Centers (CEC). —The Corporation shall establish at
all terminal markets in the country, especially in Metro Manila and cities in Luzon, Visayas
and Mindanao. Commodity Exchange Centers which shall serve as central trading facilities
for grains in the regions to provide ready market for farmers’ produce and promote efficiency of
grain distribution to consumers under a transparent marketing system which enhances the
interest of farmers and consumers alike.

Strategically located warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA) shall be the sites
and business officers of the Commodity Exchange Centers. NFA personnel, because of their
expertise in warehousing and grain classification and grading, shall serve as the core staff for the
operation of the CECs. Initially, daily public bidding of grains shall he on the basis of "on the
spot" commodity. Bidding shall later be on the basis of quedans or warehouse receipts for grain
inventories deposited in the warehouses of the Corporation, the CFCs or private bonded
warehouses. Trading on agricultural commodity “futures” shall be the final phase that the
CECs shall work for to achieve. Similarly, the CECs shall initially cover grains only and later
include other food and agricultural commodities

Section 18. Responsibility of Credit and Guarantee Cover. — The provision of credit
assistance and guarantee cover on project loans and inventory financing commodities owned and
deposited by farmers, consumers, and traders in the warehouses of the Public Warehouse
Corporations and franchised private bonded warehouses shall be the primordial responsibility
of the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation, which is hereby attached to the Council


and renamed as the Agricultural Credit and Guarantee Corporation of the Philippines, hereinafter
referred to as AGCRECOR,

Section 19. Operating Guidelines.— The AGCRECOR shall adhere to the following
operating guidelines:

(a) Provide production loans to farmers and fisherfolks through their primary
cooperatives or federations by direct lending, co-financing schemes, providing
lending banks with special time deposit, rediscounting, lending banks’
production loan receivables and similar mechanisms so as to reach out to as many
rural clients as possible;

(b) Encourage lending institutions to extend project loans for production,
warehouses, post-harvest machineries and equipment, land transportation and
shipping, hulk and the like, by providing a guarantee cover on such loans,

(c) Provide guarantee cover on inventory loans for grain or food commodities
owned and deposited by farmers, consumers and traders inthe PWC
warehouses. Commodity Exchange Centers and franchised private bonded
warehouses;

(d) Extend loans directly for the aforementioned projects and food inventory when
and where no lending banks are available or willing to provide the loans,

(e) Endeavor to provide soft-term loans by sourcing and coordinating grants,
no-interest and low interest funds and blending them with commercially sourced
funds,

(f) Submit for the Council's approval and funding, a credit plan and budget for the
undertakings envisioned in paragraphs (a) and (d) above, detailing therein the per
region loan volume targets, expected beneficiaries, repayments, arrearages and
defaults on previous loans. Likewise, a separate plan shall be submitted in regard
to the guarantee operation, and

(g) Remit back to the Council all repayments for current loans and recoveries on
past due loans funded by the said Council.

Section 20. Increase in Fund Base.— To achieve the vital credit assistance and
guarantee cover envisioned in this Act, the authorized capital stock of AGCRECOR is hereby
increased to Five billion pesos (PS,000,000,000) divided into common shares of stock of the same
par value and with the same government-private sector ownership structure spelled out under
Republic Act No. 7393. At the start of the year and upon the endorsement of the Council, the
Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Finance shall program and execute
the national governments and government institutions’ (LBP, DBP. SSS, PAGCOR. PCSO, etc.)
subscriptions and payment thereof for the government portion of the authorized capital stock
of AGCRECOR until such government portion is fully completed within five (5) years.


Furthermore, to enhance credit assistance to farmers and fisherfolks’ cooperatives and
federations and other food enterprises envisioned in this Act, the national government through
the Secretary of Finance shall guarantee the borrowings, duly approved and endorsed by the
Council, from government or private, domestic or foreign, financial institutions.

Section 21. Incentives for Banks' Credit Support. — The guarantee obligation of
AGCRECOR shall he "sovereign" in nature and deemed as the obligation of the national
government in order to entice much greater credit support from the banking sector since such
guaranteed loan receivables shall be considered as compliance with the Agri-Agra Law, have
access tothe rediscounting window of Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas and exempted from the
"single-borrower limit" and "risk asset ratio requirements"

Section 22. Compliance with the Agri-Agra Law. — All banking institutions are hereby
mandated to allocate at least fifteen percent (15%) of their loanable finds to the agricultural
sector. Furthermore, the provisions of the Agri-Agra Law, Presidential Decree No. 717, as
amended on substantial compliance through the purchase of government securities, are hereby
repealed. Bank loans extended for grain inventories deposited in the warehouses of the
Corporation. Commodities Exchange Centers and franchised private bonded warehouse
operators shall be deemed as compliance with the Agri-Agra Law.

Section 23. Devolution of the Agribusiness Group, the National Agribusiness
Corporation and the Agricultural Credit Policy Council. — The Agribusiness Group of the
Department of Agriculture, the National Agribusiness Corporation and the Agricultural Credit
Policy Council are hereby devolved as follows:

(a) The records of the Agribusiness Group shall he transferred to the NATCOR;

(b) The records, researches and reference materials of the Agricultural Credit
Policy Council shall likewise be turned over to the NATCOR,

(©) All other properties, assets and unexpended appropriations or corporate
operating budget of the National Agribusiness Corporation and the Agricultural
Credit Policy Council shall he transferred to the Council

(d)The Comprehensive Agricultural Loan Fund created under Executive Order No.
113 dated 24 December 1986 is hereby transferred to the Council; and

(e) Officials and employees of the said group and agencies shall be devolved in the
NATCOR on the basis of merit and qualification.

Section 24, Devolution of the Personnel, Properties. Assets, Records, Unexpended
Appropriation of the National Food Authority (NFA). —The present warehouses, post-
harvest facilities and equipment, trucks, and utility vehicles of the National Food Authority
shall he transferred as the initial government equity to the Public Warehousing Corporation.
All personnel attendant to the said grain facilities shall likewise be transferred to the
Corporation.


All other personnel, properties, assets, records and unexpended appropriations of the
National Food Authority are transferred to the National Agricultural Marketing Council and
National Agricultural Trading Corporation in a. manner that the said Council shall decide- This
shall include imported rice and corn already in the country and such other stocks that may arrive
pursuant. to the current importation thereof. Said stocks shall be disposed of in accordance with
the new policy of the Council.

Section 25. Outstanding Obligations of the NFA. — All obligations of the National
Food Authority upon the approval of this Act shall be transferred to and absorbed by the national
government: Provided, That those incurred in the current importation shall be paid by the
Council up to the extent of the rice/corn inventory still on hand and transferred to the Council

Section 26. Options of Devolved Personnel. — All personnel herein devolved and those
otherwise not absorbed may opt to retire, if qualified for retirement, or be laid of and gratuity shall
be given as follows:

(a) Not more than20 years of service, 1.5 months gross pay per year of
service
and

(b) More than 20 years of service, 2 months gross pay per year of service

Those with pending administrative and/or criminal cases shall be paid only after
exoneration, otherwise they shall forfeit whatever benefits are due to them.

Section 27. Strengthening Farmers and Fisherfolks’ Cooperatives. — Agri-based
cooperatives shall be strengthened to undertake farm business, agri-business such as, but not
limited to, production and post-harvest facilities, processing and marketing service.

The Cooperative Development Authority in coordination with local government units and
other government agencies and in cooperation with people and non-government organizations
(NGOs) shall initiate the transformation of agri-based cooperatives into entrepreneurs. The
government will play the catalytic and supportive role without intervention into the internal affairs
of the cooperatives while ensuring that they will adhere to sound business principles.

Section 28. Appropriations for the National Agricultural Marketing Council. —The sum
needed for the operation and maintenance of the Council, including the credit funds to support
food production and other undertaking& shall form part of the appropriations in the annual General
Appropriations Act.

Section 29. Appropriation for the National Agricultural Trading Corporation. — For the
initial operation of the NATCOR, the amount of Two Hundred Million Pesos (P200,000,000)
is hereby appropriated from the current appropriations of the Department of Agriculture or
the National food Authority. Thereafter such sum as may be needed for its operations and
maintenance, including the amount needed liar strengthening the Bureau of Agricultural


Statistics, shall be included as part of the appropriations in the annual General Appropriations
Act.

Section 30. Appropriations for the Public Warehousing Corporation. — For the initial
operation, the amount of Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000_000) is hereby appropriated
for the Corporation from the current appropriations of the Department of Agriculture or the
National Food Authority_ Thereafter. such amount needed for their continuous operation and
maintenance shall be included as part of the appropriations in the annual General Appropriations
Act.

Section 31. Appropriations for the Regional Agricultural Marketing Council. — The
National Agricultural Marketing Council shall, out of its financial resources, appropriate such
amount as would be necessary for the start-up and continuous operation of each Regional
Agricultural Marketing Councils

Section 32. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, executive issuances, rules and
regulations inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 33. Separability Clause. — The provisions of this Act are hereby declared to be
separable, and in the event one or more of such provisions arc held unconstitutional, the validity
of the other provisions shall not be affected thereby.

Section 34. Effectivity Clause. —This Act shall take effect immediately after its complete
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation

Approved,