THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
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S E N A T  
Introduced by Senator S. R. Osmeiia Ill 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The theory of inter-linked transactions between the landlord and the tenant 
demonstrates the many things that the landlord was to the farmer - owner of the 
land he tilled, creditor, source of non-labor inputs, buyer of his outputs, and 
employer of extra non-farm labor. In a sense the landlord provided the tenant 
with his only link to markets. The bundling together of all these transactions also 
remedied the problem of credit risk and transactions costs. 
In the absence of 
anything 
better, 
the 
landlord-tenant relationship 
was 
an improvement over 
subsistence production with no opportunity for exchange. 
Agrarian reform addressed the distributive inequities of the tenancy system. 
However, with the exit of landlords from rural markets, the farmer finds himself 
without 
access to credit, 
to 
market opportunities and to many other things. 
Government intervention 
in rural 
markets has to 
address the urgent need to 
institutionalize 
ways of 
packaging factor 
inputs 
in agriculture to bring about 
innovative, efficient and competitive modes of production and marketing. Otherwise, 
support service$ 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. 
The National Agricultural Marketing Council 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; 
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(b) The Public Warehousing Corporation, to operate Commodity Exchange 
Centers (CECs); establish terminal markets all over the country, and 
maintain the country’s 
buffer stocks 
of 
food grain 
and other food 
commodities; 
(c) 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 Quedan 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. Moreover, the separation of policy-making and enforcement from 
proprietary functions paves the way for the eventual transfer of the latter functions to 
the private sector, with competitive markets geared for efficiency. 
It has been said that the poverty in many underdeveloped economies stems 
from the massive waste of resources that result from the inadequacies of market 
mechanisms. 
In the Philippine countryside, 
the government must confront the 
challenge to develop the market institutions that will put a 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. 
SERGIO OSMENA 111 
Senator 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
9
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‘-.-% 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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’ ‘ I  i 
1. ! as i ’ 2  :!It) 
First Regular Session 
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f 
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%
 
E 
T 
S. No. 
. . .  
Introduced by Senator S.R. Osmefia 111 
AN ACT 
TO 
PROMOTE THE AGRICULTURE 
INDUSTRY, STABILIZE PRICES OF 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND ENHANCE FOOD SECURITY THROUGH THE 
EFFECTIVE PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION OF 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, RATIONALIZING AND RESTRUCTURING FOR 
THE 
PURPOSE, 
ALL 
EXISTING 
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 fhe House of Representatives in Congress 
assembled: 
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Section . 1. 
Title 
- This Act shall be known as the “National 
Agricultural Marketing Act of 2004.” 
Section. 2. Declaration of Policy - It is hereby declared to be the 
policy of the State to ensure the general welfare of farmers, who constitute 
a majority of the national population, 
and are key to the production of 
sufficient food supplies all over the country. 
It shall also be the policy of the 
state to ensure the attainment of food security at all times 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 manner accessible to every Filipino 
of any 
economic and social standing, given any change in the country’s climatic, 
social, political and economic condition. The State recognizes that the goal of 


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food security is best served through the operation of competitive markets that 
will provide sufficient incentives to farmers 
and producers to increase the 
productivity levels of their farms. 
For the above purposes, the state hereby rationalizes and restructures 
existing government structures and programs on the production, processing, 
marketing and distribution of agricultural products. 
Section. 3. Creation of the National Agricultural Marketing Council - 
There is hereby created a policy-making and implementing body corporate 
called the National Agricultural Marketing 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; 
(b) To foster the empowerment of agricultural 
producers into effective 
associations or corporations under their own control for greater unity of 
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effort in marketing 
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(c) To promote the establishment 
and financing 
of a farm marketing 
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systems of producer- owned and producer-controlled 
cooperative 
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associations and other agencies, 


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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 
To effect, with the Regional Agricultural Marketing Councils andlor 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. 
To cause the direct importation of rice and allocation of import quotas 
among private entities, especially certified and licensed farmer 
cooperatives 
To promulgate the government’s “stabilization price” for grains to assure 
farmers with a reasonable mark-up on their production cost 
and 
participation in the profits that may be realized from the sale of the 
government’s buffer grain stock; 
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; 
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; 
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 


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population is achieved in a way that maintains the productivity of the soil 
and diminishes any adverse impact to the immediate environment; and 
(k) 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; 
(f) The Secretary of the Department of Budget Management; 
(9) 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 Chair; Provided, That the Chair may convene 
special meetings to discuss urgent matters needing immediate resolution. The 
council 
members shall be entitled to per diem for every meeting actually 
attended by them and other remunerations as may be determined by them. It 


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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 be 
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 , - 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 be 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. - The Regional Agricultural Marketing Council shall be composed of 
(a) All the provincial governors of the region; 
(b) The regional directors of the Department of Agriculture 
(c) A representative from the farming/fisheries sector; 
(d) A representative from the agricultural marketing and trading sector; 
and 
(e) A representative from the consumer sector 


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All provincial 
governors with the Department of Agriculture Regional 
Director shall by majority vote choose the sectoral representatives from among 
nominees respectively submitted by recognized sectoral associations in the 
region. Thereafter, the council members shall elect their Chair, Vice Chair 
and other officers. 
Section. 8. Support Staff - The Regional Agricultural Marketing Council 
shall appoint, from among its members or qualified outsider, a regional director 
who shall manage and direct the day-to-day 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 fhe 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 Funefions of the NA TCOR. 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, fisher folks and other persons reliable and 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 
(c) 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; 


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cost to consumers; 
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(e) To foster and assist in the development of new or expansion of 
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existing domestic 
and foreign 
markets 
through institutional 
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arrangements 
like contract growing, 
market matching, market 
(d) 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 
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intelligence and other promotional activities for agricultural products; 
(9 To provide farmers, fisher folks and other persons or firms access to 
existing public and private researches supporting food market 
development activities 
(9) To 
disseminate 
information 
on 
inspection, 
classification, 
standardization, and grading system for all agricultural products to 
enhance global competitiveness; 
(h) 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; 
(i) To require as a tool for market information the annual registration 
and publish 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; 
6) To 
coordinate with 
the 
Department of 
Transportation and 
Communications towards establishing 
more efficient, regular, 
adequate, suitable and economical systems of transporting and/or 


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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 
(k) 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. 1 1 . 
Strengthening of the Agricultural 
Marketing 
lnformation 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 for 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 National Agricultural Trading Corporation 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 National 
Agricultural Trading Corporation 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: 


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(a) To establish and maintain warehouses and post-harvest facilities for 
foods, grain 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 
s toc ks/i nven t o ries ; 
(c) To issue, pursuant to existing laws and regulations, corresponding 
warehouse receipts or quedan for the farmers’ grain and food 
inventory deposits; 
(d) To store and safe-keep the government’s food or grain bufferlsecurity 
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; 
(9 To establish and operate Commodity Exchange Centers (CEC); and 
(9) To exercise the general powers and attributes of a corporation as 
set forth in the Corporation Law. 
SECTION 14. Aufhorized 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) 
(bl 
Executive Director of the Council as Chair; 
General Manaqer of the Corporation as Vice-Chair: 


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(c) 
(d) 
(e) 
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. 
President of AGCRECOR as member; 
Director of NATCOR as member; and 
Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics as member. 
SECTION 16. Organizafion and Sfaff. - 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. Commodify Exchange Cenfers 
(CEC) - 
The 
Corporation shall establish at all terminal markets in the country, especially 
in Metro Manila and cities in Luron, 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 


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classification and grading, shall serve as the core staff for the operation of 
the CECs. 
Initially, daily public bidding of grains shall be 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 CECs 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 
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Responsibility 
for 
Credit 
Assisfance 
and 
Guarantee Cover - The provision of credit assistance and guarantee cover 
on project loans and inventory financing for 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 
ad here to the following operating guidelines: 
(a) Provide production loans to farmerdfishers through their primary 
cooperatives or federations by direct lending, co-financing schemes, 
providing 
lending banks with 
especial 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 


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cover on such loans; 
transportation and shipping, bulk and the like by providing a guarantee 
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(c) Provide 
guarantee cover 
on inventory 
loans 
for 
grain 
or 
food 
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commodities owned and deposited by farmers, consumers and traders 
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in the 
PWC 
warehouses, 
Commodity 
Exchange 
Centers 
and 
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franchised private bonded warehouses; 
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(d) Extend loans directly for the aforementioned projects 
and food 
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inventory when and where no lending banks are available or willing 
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to provide the loans; 
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(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; 
(9 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; 
(9) Remit back to the Council all repayments for current loans and 
recoveries on past due loans funded by the said Council. 
SECTION 20. lncrease 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 
(P5,000,000,000) 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 


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Management 
and the Department of Finance shall program and execute 
the national government’s and government institutions’ (LBP, DBP, SSS, 
GSIS, 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 
farmerdfishers, 
cooperatives/federations and other food enterprises envisioned in this Act, 
the national government through the Secretary of Finance shall guarantee 
the AGCRECOR’s borrowings, duly approved and endorsed by the Council, 
from government or private, domestic or foreign, financial institutions. 
SECTION 21. 
lncenfives for 
Banks’ 
Credif Support 
- 
The 
guarantee obligation of AGCRECOR shall be “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 to the rediscounting window of Bangko Sentral 
ng Pilipinas and exempted from the “single-borrower limit” and “risk asset 
ratio requirements”. 
SECTION 22. Compliance with Agri-Agra Law - All banking 
institutions are hereby mandated to allocate at least fifteen percent (1 5%) 
of their loanable funds 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 
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hereby repealed. Bank loans extended for grain inventories deposited in 
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the warehouses of the Corporation, Commodities Exchange Centers and 
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franchised 
private bonded warehouse 
operators shall be deemed 
as 
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compliance with the Agri-Agra Law. 


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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 be 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; 
(c) All other properties, assets and unexpended appropriations or corporate 
operating budget of the National Agribusiness Corporation and the 
Agricultural Credit Policy Council shall be 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 into the NATCOR on the basis of merit and qualification. 
SECTION 24. Devolution of the Personnel, Properties, Assets, 
Records, 
and 
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 
be 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 
Nation a I Ag ricu I tural Marketing 
Council and National Ag ricult u ra I Trading 


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Corporation 
in a manner that the said Council shall decide. This shall 
include imported rice and corn already in the country and other such 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 ricekorn 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 off and gratuity shall be given as 
follows: 
(a) Not more than 20 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. 
Appropriations 
for fhe 
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 undertakings, shall form part of the appropriations, in the annual 
General Appropriations Act. 


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SECTION 28. 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 for strengthening the 
Bureau 
of 
Agricultural 
Statistics, 
shall be 
included 
as part 
of 
the 
appropriations in the annual General Appropriations Act. 
SECTION 
29. 
Appropriations 
for 
the 
Public 
Warehousing 
Corporation - For its 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 
30. 
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 31. Repealing Clause - All laws, decrees, executive 
issuances, rules and regulations inconsistent with this Act are hereby 
repealed or modified accordingly. 
SECTION 32. Separability Clause - The provisions of this Act are 
hereby declared to be separable, and in the event one or more of such 
provisions are held unconstitutional, the validity of the other provisions shall 
27 
not be affected thereby 


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SECTION 33. Effecfivify Clause. - This Act shall take effect immediately 
2 
after its complete 
publication in at least two (2) 
newspapers of general 
3 
circulation. 
Approved,