MABALACAT CITY -- Anakpawis Party-list Representative Ariel Casilao has renewed his call for the country’s pull-out from the World Trade Organization – Agreement on Agriculture (WTO-AOA) in order to protect local farmers.
In a press statement sent to SunStar Pampanga, the group opposed the tariffication of rice imports and the removal of the quantitative restrictions as provisioned by House Bill No. 5023.
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The Technical Working Group under the Committee on Agriculture and Food deliberated on the said bill where Casilao is a member.
“This is a dooms day legislation for rice farmers in the country, who are already suffering from landlessness, high cost of production and government neglect, it is akin to condemning them to mass displacement and misery,” Casilao said.
The quantitative restriction, a safety net to the WTO-AOA expired on June 30, 2017 and was only extended through the issuance of Executive Order No. 23.
Casilao said that the proposed tariffication is very alarming as it is leading to the full liberalization of our agriculture as dictated by WTO-AOA.
He added that rice production in the country will suffer from huge losses due to cheaper imported rice.
Government support to agriculture and farmers would be limited as the agreement pushes for total state non-intervention, according to Casilao.
“The long-running demand of Filipino farmers is to pull-out from WTO-AOA, for adequate government support such as free irrigation, and ultimately, free land distribution, hence, total liberalization of agriculture will only put the country’s population into a state of hunger and low-productivity,” Casilao said.