Senator Cynthia Villar defended the Rice Tariffication Law anew, as she stressed that government will appropriate P10 billion in an annual agricultural fund to help ease the effects of World Trade Organization-governed rice importation on local production.
Villar said that should the Executive Department reneges on its pledge to put up the fund, she would be filing a case for non-performance of public duty against the involved officials.
“The claim that rice tariffication is disadvantageous is wrong.”
The P10 billion fund, according to the seasoned lawmaker, would benefit farmers as the taxes being earned from the tariffs and other taxes will be channeled to farm mechanization and other pro-farmer projects.
“The claim that rice tariffication is disadvantageous is wrong. That is being peddled by people behind the rice cartels and smugglers,” the veteran lawmaker said.
Meanwhile, the lady senator encouraged women in this province to earn additional income for their family through livelihood projects and vegetable farming.
“Plant vegetables in your backyard. Earn extra income through livelihood projects, such as tending sari-sari stores and weaving, like making blankets out of water lilies,” she told some 6,000 women who joined the International Women’s Month celebration at the Francisco L. Dy Memorial Coliseum.
“Everything is possible for livelihood opportunities for women. Just find time to help your own family and earn money in a legal way. Do not just wait for the wages of your husband because it is sometimes not enough to feed the family,” Villar said.
“Everything is possible for livelihood opportunities for women.”
