Senate President Chiz Escudero is renewing his push for the renationalization of agricultural support services to uplift and revitalize the sector.
Speaking to stakeholders of the agriculture sector, Escudero once again raised his proposal to bring back the control and supervision over agricultural support services and facilities to the national level, particularly the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies.
The veteran legislator noted how policies and priorities would change with regard to the agricultural sector under different regimes at the local government level.
“There are inconsistencies in the implementation of programs and policies that affect the agriculture sector in each locality.”
“There are inconsistencies in the implementation of programs and policies that affect the agriculture sector in each locality. If you have someone with a background as a farmer then you can expect policies in favor of the sector otherwise there is no guarantee that their interests would be prioritized,” the seasoned lawmaker said.
Since 1998, when he first served as representative of the First District of Sorsogon, the senator has been filing a bill to renationalize agriculture.
Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, devolved agricultural and health services to the local government units (LGUs) as part of move to provide them with greater autonomy.
Feedback from the stakeholders of the agriculture sector during consultations conducted in the course of the review of the implementation of the LGC over the years showed a strong desire to renationalize agricultural services and prompted Escudero to file bills to make this happen.
“Nawalan ng kamay, braso at paa ang agriculture department at health kaugnay sa nagaganap sa mga LGU.”
“Since I became a congressman in 1998, I filed a bill to renationalize agriculture. Ang problema kasi sa agrikultura natin dinevolve ‘yan kasama ng health sa Local Government Code of 1991. Kaya nawalan ng kamay, braso at paa ang agriculture department at health kaugnay sa nagaganap sa mga LGU,” the Senate President said during the 25th Anniversary of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc recently.
“May problema sa iba’t ibang polisiya kaugnay ng iba’t ibang regulasyon at pagbabawal na konektado sa mga bagay tulad ng ASF (African Swine Fever), mga regulasyon galing sa mga LGU na walang kontrol ang DA,” he added.
The passage of several laws related to the development of the agriculture sector over the years, including Republic Act 8435, or the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, necessitates the DA’s full administrative control and supervision over all personnel in the field who are involved in agriculture and fishery.
Agricultural extension workers or the people in the field could be better utilized to support the renewed push to revitalize the agriculture sector.
“In contemplating whether or not to revive renationalization, sana maging solusyon ng administrasyon na timbangin nila ‘yung renationalization ng agriculture sector muli para hawak ng kalihim ang lahat ng programang agrikultura,” Escudero concluded.
