Villar optimistic Duterte will sign farmers’ cash assistance bill to law

Citing the urgency of helping our farmers due to the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Senator Cynthia Villar on Monday said she remains confident President Rodrigo Duterte would sign into law the proposed Cash Assistance to Filipino Rice Farmers Act of 2020.

If enacted, the measure would benefit over 1.673 million small rice farmers.

The chairperson of the Senate agriculture and food committee said the bill proposes that any amount in excess of the P10 billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) collection by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) shall automatically be given as cash assistance to rice farmers.

They shall receive the assistance if they are tilling two hectares or less of rice land, which is estimated at 1.673 million as listed in the Registry System of Basic Sectors (RSBSA).

Villar noted that the country’s rice farmers are continuously facing the many challenges brought about by the liberalization of rice importation in 2019, the series of destructive typhoons that hit their farms and the Covid 19 pandemic.

“So I strongly believe that our farmers need more support and assistance to cope up with the several challenges, especially now that we are in a pandemic, and their health is also at risk,” she said.

Towards this end, she said the state shall provide monetary assistance to the hardest hit segments of our small farmers in the form of actual giving of cash to them.

“Any amount we give to our farmers will be a big help to augment their income and improve their poor living conditions,” said Villar.

According to Villar, excess collection in 2019 amounting to P2.135 billion and the P5.408 billion in 2020 was already allocated as cash assistance to our rice farmers under the General Appropriations Act of 2021.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)