Wala ba silang (Don’t they have a) group chat? Nagkakagulatan ba sila o nag-aaway na (Are they fighting or are they surprising each other)?
We hope that Secretary Diokno will not be “surprised” that the wet season harvests are already starting to happen. Ang pagpapatupad ng zero-tariff importation sa panahon ng anihan ay disaster na sasalanta sa ating mga lokal na magsasaka (The implementation of zero-tariff importation during the harvest season will be a disaster for our local farmers). Alam ito ng Department of Agriculture, baka bukas kay Undersecretary for Rice Sebastian naman tayo makarinig (The Department of Agriculture is aware of this, maybe tomorrow will be hear about it from Undersecretary for Rice Sebastian). Never open the import floodgates during harvest season or the local farmers would be on the losing end again.
Even worse, the proposal doesn’t mention a national calamity that would authorize a role for the government in the importation. The Diokno proposal also does not say that the importation will only be for the National Food Authority’s buffer stock, which means that the importation will be done by the private sector. Magulo (It’s a mess) because this goes against the administration’s goal of importing rice from Vietnam through government-to-government trade. Ano ba talaga (So what is it really)?
Mas mainam na ibasura ang planong government-to-government rice importation na pwedeng magtulak sa maraming rice importers na tumigil na sa negosyo — kasalungat naman ng layon ng zero-tariff proposal na engganyuhin silang mag-negosyo.
(Better to scrap the government-to-government rice importation plan that could drive many rice importers out of business – contrary to the goal of the zero-tariff proposal to entice them to do business.)
Dapat pagtuunan din ng pansin na tulungan ang National Food Authority na sundin ang batas at gastusin nito ang P7 billion na budget para bumili ng buffer stock mula sa mga lokal na magsasaka at para sapat ang suplay pagtama ng El Niño hanggang susunod na lean season.
(Attention should also be focused on helping the National Food Authority follow the law and spend its P7 billion budget to buy buffer stock from local farmers and to have enough supply after El Niño until the next lean season.)
I will file a resolution to shed light on these contradicting policies and to give the executive branches of government, which don’t work together, a chance to talk to each other.