THE Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) welcomes the appointment of former senator Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan to the Aquino Cabinet as Presidential Assistant on food security and agriculture modernization.

The group expressed hope that he will be a positive addition to the reform efforts and local food self-sufficiency drive of the Department of Agriculture (DA); to the anti-smuggling initiatives at the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and; to the pro-local agriculture legislative agenda of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

“Specific to the National Food Authority (NFA), which will now be under his helm; we urge Secretary Pangilinan to strengthen the current efforts to support and promote the local rice industry and only import rice as a last resort,” said Rosendo So, SINAG Chair.

“We also hope that he will be an additional voice to the legal mandate of the NFA and official position of the Solicitor General of the “no permit, no rice import” policy,” added Manalo Ofociano, a rice farmer and member of SINAG.

According to SINAG, millions of rice farmers continue to enjoy unprecedented farmgate price of palay for two cropping seasons now and the local rice industry are reaping the benefits of the joint efforts of the DA, BOC and the Senate Agriculture Committee in curbing rice smuggling.

“As we prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) next year, SINAG members are hopeful that Sec. Pangilinan’s appointment will inject a renewed sense of urgency to government’s efforts to help prepare the agriculture sector for the AEC,” continued So.

“As a former member of the Upper Chamber, we also hope that Secretary Pangilinan will help in the efforts to unmask the perpetrators of the multi-billion peso PDAF, Fertilizer Fund and ACEF scam who shamelessly plundered public funds intended to help the agriculture sector prepare for the AEC,” So stressed.

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