News Release
April 4, 2008
Reference: Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman, KMP and president, ANAKPAWIS party list
 
“National Food Summit , just a waste of money!”-KMP
 
The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) lambasted Malacanang and the Department of Agriculture (DA) for convening a National Food Summit that is just a waste of taxpayer’s money.
 
According to Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of ANAKPAWIS party list, “if the money they are using for this summit is being used for procuring more rice from our farmers then it would have been better. But the Macapagal-Arroyo regime would rather talk about a problem than solve it, even if we have already laid out how to solve the rice crisis in the immediate, intermediate and long term,”
 
“Yet again Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and DA Sec. Arthur Yap will just use this summit to preen and say that they are doing something to solve the rice crisis. They will just read out their speeches and would not even listen to the voice of majority of farmers who are the ones feeding the nation,” said Mariano.
 
“Long before this rice crisis we have been campaigning for higher farm gate prices for palay and other agricultural products, an increase by at least 25% in the local procurement of palay by the National Food Authority (NFA), junking the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) , junking the World Trade Organization (WTO), stopping land use and crop conversions, dismantling the rice cartel and the implementation of genuine agrarian reform,” added the peasant leader.
 
“All of these have already been presented to the public and the government; all they have to do is follow and implement them. These solutions will definitely end the rice crisis and the social unrest in the country side and they do not even have to call for a summit to get it,” ended Mariano. # # #