MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday told the Department of Agriculture, through the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy palay (unhusked rice) from local farmers at a reasonable price.
Duterte gave the directive in a bid to help farmers recover from low palay prices and cope with the effects of the Rice Tariffication Law.
“In a democracy, officials are elected and their duty is to do the greatest good for the greatest number. You have seen people going wild, others hungry because there is no rice,” the president said in a press conference in Malacañang.
“What the solution should be or will be for the Secretary of Agriculture to buy all, magkano ba presyo nila? Magkano presyo nila, bilhin natin,” he added.
Some farmers from Ilocos and Central Luzon regions have complained about low palay prices as the price of the staple dipped from P21 to P7 per kilogram.
Farmers have blamed this on the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, which they said impacted heavily on local palay prices.
But the President said the tariffication law was passed to serve the greater interest of the majority of the people.
The government does not waste an industry and the President said his administration is “helping an industry.”
“Are we wasting money? No. We are not wasting an industry. We are helping an industry,” he said.
Following his directive to the NFA, the chief executive reminded local farmers to refrain from demanding palay price and that they should be willing to compromise.
“You arrive at a compromise of how much you are willing to lose a little bit. Huwag naman ‘yang paano. Medyo tapatan lang basta hindi malugi na ano ‘yung pagod nila but they are compensated,” he said.
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