PBBM orders 'thorough assessment' of DA programs 

President and Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the "thorough assessment" of the existing programs of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Agriculture Undersecretary-designate for consumer and political affairs Kristine Evangelista bared on Monday, July 18.

"Right now, there's a very thorough assessment of the program DA already has because we have to see which one of them actually work, which one has to be tweaked, and which one needs further consultation with the stakeholders. So 'yun po ang mga utos din po ng ating mahal na Presidente so he could come up with programs again based on the thrust of increasing production and making agricultural commodities affordable," she told reporters after a two-hour closed-door meeting of agriculture officials with the President.

Asked what products will be prioritized by the agriculture department, Evangelista said the current administration will not only focus on one commodity.

"Because if we're talking about food security, that does not involve only rice. It will involve even 'yung ating sa livestock po, 'yung ating manok (our poultry products), 'yung baboy (pork products), itlog (eggs), and also 'yung ating mga gulay so marami po tayong tutukan (our vegetable production so we will focus on many things)," she said.

Evangelista said representatives of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) were also present in the meeting. Recently, Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said that Marcos, who concurrently heads the DA, identified education and agriculture as among the departments we wants to be prioritized.

" DBM was there because there are budget considerations that we have to look into, so 'yun po ang direksyon (that's the direction)," she said when asked if budget was tackled in the meeting.

"The nitty gritty and the details of the budget were not discussed. It was basically broad strokes of the program and the direction on how many consumers or farmers do we intend to help with this kind of program," she continued.

With the impending price increase of sugar due to low sugar production in the country, the undersecretary said they have a scheduled stakeholders meeting. The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) recently warned that the sugar supply in the country may run out by August should the government prohibit sugar importation, noting that only one of 13 refineries in the country is operational.

"It will start with a small group of stakeholders and eventually, we ask also our sra, para makita po natin… If we come up with an SRP (suggested retail price), base po sa proseso, dapat talaga may (based on the process, there should be a) consultation with stakeholders…"

Meanwhile, Evangelista said that the pricing of rice was not tackled in their meeting with Marcos who said in his campaign that he wanted to lower the price of rice to P20 per kilo. But regardless, she said that the DA will increase rice production to lower its price.

She noted that the country has a high rice production, saying rice importation "will always be for augmentation and for buffer stock in the commissary."

"If we will increase our yield in the North, then even ang (the) buffer stock natin will come from local production…"