Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
(PDP-Laban) today criticized the World Bank for
discouraging the grant of state subsidies to rice
farmers while urging the government to reduce the
tariff on imported rice.
Pimentel said if farmers in Japan and in the other
neighboring Asian countries, as well as the United
States and Europe, get substantial subsidies from
their respective governments to [...]

Amidst the worsening political crisis hitting the Arroyo government brought about by ZTE-NBN scandal and all other issues raised since 2001, economic situation is also getting worst. For about 3 weeks, the country’s facing the issue on rice shortage. Ironically, government officials are singing different lyrics looking something or somebody to blame.
Senator Miguel Zubiri noted [...]

Policies only worsened RP’s dependence on rice imports
Independent think-tank IBON Foundation today urged the Arroyo administration to discontinue policies like the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), which has only contributed to the country’s current rice crisis.
Rice imports have consistently increased since the AFMA was signed into law in 1997. From 722,000 metric tons in [...]

Bayan says that high prices of rice and fuel belie the government’s repeated claims of economic growth.

“The private sector that will benefit from liberalized rice importation is the same unscrupulous trader suspected of repacking NFA rice that are mixed with the commercial rice and sold at a higher price. Giving them ample liberty to import rice will lead to more abuse of their discretion and the opportunity to dictate the prices [...]

The current rice crisis facing the country should convince the Senate not to ratify the Japan – Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) because the deal threatens to aggravate the country’s food insecurity, the NO DEAL! coalition said today.
NO DEAL! spokesperson Arnold Padilla noted that under the Jpepa, the Philippines is expected to export larger volumes [...]

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur C. Ocampo today assailed the 10-year old government’s Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) of 1997 or Republic Act 8435 as a complete failure as exemplified by the looming rice crisis in the country.
Ocampo said that “the Filipino people are now bearing the burden caused by [...]

An immediate price cap on rice to avoid spiraling market prices
together with medium and long term policies to develop the domestic
rice industry will bring us out of the current crisis in rice supply
and prices, said the scientists group AGHAM in a statement today.
“The current crisis is a result of GMA’s policies that prefers imports
in addressing [...]

Conflicting data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) expose the desperate attempts of the Arroyo government to conceal the gravity of the rice shortage, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said today.
Bayan noted that according to the DA, the average national rice consumption is 11.9 million metric tons (MT) per year. For 2008, the DA projects [...]

Farmers and civil society groups warn that the worst situation in the country’s rice supply is yet to come as they predict the prices of rice will soar to as high as P40 during the lean months of July to September.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur C. Ocampo today asserted that the government must intervene in the rice industry and decisively abandon rice trade liberalization to address the rice crisis at its roots.
Ocampo said the Arroyo government’s policy of rice importation to address shortfalls in domestic consumption requirements proves to be “a [...]

President Arroyo’s recent directive for the release of P1.5-billion augmentation for the
Department of Agriculture (DA) budget to increase rice production in the face of the supply crisis, according to Centro Saka and the National Rice Farmers Council (NRFC), is a case of “too little too late”.
“It is unrealistic to think that we can avert [...]

Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur C. Ocampo today proposed “two immediate and doable rice action plan and three imperative policy changes” to avert the looming rice crisis in the country.
Ocampo issued the proposal after prices of the country’s staple food shot up to an average of P29 per kilogram in the local [...]