News Release
April 8, 2008
Reference: Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman, KMP and president, ANAKPAWIS party list
 
“Lifting rice import quotas will only benefit the rice cartel!”-KMP
Increased local rice procurement still the immediate answer to rice crisis
 
            The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) branded as yet another idiotic solution, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime’s move to lift the rice import quotas of the private sector. The private sector is allowed to import a maximum of 300,000 metric tons of rice annually. But private traders have imported less than 10 percent of that volume over the past two years because of high world prices and the tariff.
 
            According to Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of ANAKPAWIS party list, “this is like the earlier proposal to reduce the rice tariffs in the country. With these neo-liberal suggestions coming from Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, this regime is strengthening and expanding the influence of the country’s rice cartel. There is an obvious effort on the part of this administration to further entrench the cartel into the Philippine rice industry,”
 
            “By lifting the rice import quotas, the Binondo cartel will have all the chance to legalize their rice smuggling operations. It is as if Gloria declared the rice industry as an exclusive zone for the cartel because of the current rice crisis in the world only the cartel has that much money to buy rice from the international market. Just last week the price of grade B Thai rice has reached $ 795/ ton, that is 147% more than a year earlier,” said Mariano.
 
            “These moves of the regime are further pushing us into dependency to other countries and are inimical to true food security.  We are almost becoming beggars of a staple that we can amply produce ourselves. Is this what Gloria calls rice self-sufficiency when the Philippines haggle for rice in the world market?” asked the peasant leader.
 
            “The immediate solution to the current rice crisis is an increase of local rice procurement of the National Food Authority (NFA) to at least 25% of the total rice yield of the country. To date the NFA  only acquires 1% of our total rice. Without increased local rice procurement the government is leaving the Filipino people at the mercy of the Binondo cartel,” ended Mariano. # # #