WWE
LS 20

NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF THE)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES —)
First Regular Session )

2073

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by Representative JAIME EDUARDO MARC D. COJUANGCO,

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In his oath taking as the 17 President, His Excellency,
Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. stated:

“The role of agriculture cries for urgent attention that its neglect
and misdirection now demands. Food self-sufficiency has been
the key promise of every administration. None but one
delivered.”

Indeed, our country is facing an impending food security crisis.
And, there is a grave need to address this situation.

One of the bigger problems of our farmers is the lack of post-
harvest facilities. This leads them to being confined to the planting and
harvesting of the crop. They just then immediately sell their harvest to
middlemen. Most of these middlemen are part of rice cartels that
corner the larger mark-ups from the time the harvested palay leaves
the farm to the time milled rice reaches the market. In the process,
while the farmers income is limited to only a fraction of the value of
the harvested produce, the prices of rice and palay go up, to the
detriment of the Filipino consumers.

This measure mandates the Department of Agriculture (DA) and
the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), in coordination with the
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and in
consultation with concerned farmer cooperatives, to construct
warehouses and rice mills in every rice-producing municipality and
city in the Philippines. For the initial phase of the program, every
legislative district with at least one-rice producing municipality shall
be the beneficiary of at least one (1) warehouse and one (1) rice mill.



The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in consultation
with the DA, the DAR and farmers’ cooperatives, shall provide the
equipment and machineries. These shall include transport facilities,
necessary to complement and operate the warehouses and rice mills.
Such warehouses and rice mills, including the equipment, machineries
and transport facilities required to operate them, shall be sold to the
concerned accredited farmers’ cooperatives. The farmers shall be given
a period of twenty-five (25) years within which to amortize the cost of
the same without interest.

A massive infrastructure program for these post-harvest
facilities would ensure that farmgate prices of palay would
significantly be lower. It would increase farmers’ incomes and
eliminate the non-productive activities of middlemen in the current
distribution and marketing scheme of agricultural produce.

For the foregoing reasons, the immediate consideration and
approval of the bill is earnestly urged.

JAIME EDUARDO MARC D. COJUANGCO
Representative
1* District of Tarlac



NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF THE)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES —_)
First Regular Session )

HOUSE BILL NO. 2073

Introduced by Representative JAIME EDUARDO MARC D. COJUANGCO

AN ACT
PROVIDING POST-HARVEST FACILITIES FOR
PALAY AND RICE FARMERS

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

1 SECTION 1. Short Title - This Act shall be known as the ‘Post-

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Harvest Facilities Support Act of 2022’,

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy - It shall be the policy of the

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4 State to attain national food security though the promotion of
5 agricultural and rural development. In particular, the State shall
6 endeavor to provide for agricultural infrastructure and_ facilities
7 necessary to increase the farmers’ incomes, and at the same time,
8 decrease the prices of agricultural produce, rice and palay, in
9 particular. It shall also be the policy of the State to encourage and
10 _ strengthen farmers’ organizations and cooperatives as partners of the
1 government in achieving its economic development goals for the

12 agricultural sector in the country.


SECTION 3. Construction of Post-Harvest Facilities - The
Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian
Reform (DAR), in coordination with the Department of Public Works
and Highways (DPWH), and in consultation with concerned 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 legislative district with at least
one-rice producing municipality shall be the beneficiary of at least one
(1) warehouse and one (1) rice mill.

SECTION 4. Provision of Equipment and Machineries - The
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in consultation with the DA,
the DAR and farmers’ cooperatives, shall provide the equipment and
machineries, including transport facilities, necessary to complement
and operate the warehouses and rice mills: Provided, that such
warehouses and rice mills, including the equipment, machineries and
transport facilities required to operate them, shall be sold to the
concerned accredited farmers’ cooperatives which shall be given a
period of twenty-five (25) years within which to amortize the cost of
the same without interest.

SECTION 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations - Within
sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, the DA, the DAR, the
DPWH and the DTI shall jointly formulate and promulgate the rules

and regulations necessary for the effective implementation of this Act.


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SECTION 6. Appropriation - The amount of One Billion Pesos
(P1,000,000,000.00) is hereby initially appropriated for the program
upon approval of this Act. Thereafter, the amount necessary to pursue
the program shall be incorporated in the General Appropriations Act,
funding of which shall partly be sourced from the savings realized
from the phasing out of palay and rice subsidies, and from the
amortizations accumulated thereof.

SECTION 7. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act,
or any parts thereof, is declared unconstitutional, the same shall not
affect the validity and effectivity of the other portions.

SECTION 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, executive orders,
presidential decrees, proclamations, rules, regulations, issuances and
enactments of parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby
repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 9. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15)
days from its complete publication in the Official Gazette of in a
newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines, whichever comes
ealier.

APPROVED.