TUCP Party-list Rep. and Deputy Speaker Raymond Democrito Mendoza and Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda proposed a series of measures—chief among them is stepping up support for the agricultural and renewable energy (RE) sectors —that would enable the Marcos administration to address rising inflation.
The inflation rate for September 2022 climbed to 6.9 percent from 6.3 percent in August, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), mostly due to rising food and energy prices.
Mendoza highlighted the need for economic managers to address food and energy inflation because these “will see people confronting real threat of hunger and power rates which will not just turn off investors but will bring down the quality of life for the majority".
For his part, Salceda stressed the need to contain price growth, submitting a memorandum to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. titled “Food, Feed, and Fuel: Analysis and Recommendations on the September 2022 Inflation Rate” in which the lawmaker suggested a string of executive actions.
“The problem is primarily in food, feed, especially corn, and fuel. These are the most essential components of the basket of goods. And they are vulnerable, to some extent, to global price volatility due to imports,” he said in a press release.
The economist-congressman enumerated the executive orders that Marcos needs to issue to address the rising cost of goods and energy.
The main recommendations among them are the completion of all pending procurement for agriculture and ensuring that all supply bottlenecks for food and other farm producer are eased.
READ: Inflation climbs to 6.9% in September
Salceda also suggested that the Chief Executive issue administrative orders for local government units (LGUs) to lift all hindrances and blockages across farm-to-market routes and direct the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to ensure the proper flow of traffic feeding into inter-island nautical routes.
Both Salceda and Mendoza underscored the need for households to do their part in planting vegetables, with the latter asking the Department of Agriculture (DA), which Marcos heads in a concurrent capacity, to distribute seeds for this purpose.
The lawmakers also called for more support for RE, with Mendoza stressing that local renewables pricing “should not be indexed to the price of imported coal and oil".
Salceda recommended the issuance of an executive order that will expedite the local and national approval of the necessary permits for the production of solar, wind, and other forms of RE.
He would also like Marcos to open the country to foreign investment in the field of renewable energy by issuing amendments to the implementing rules and regulation of Republic Act (RA) 9513 of the Renewable Energy Law “to lift foreign ownership restrictions to renewable energy generation".
“Again, we emphasize the need for these measures to be done with a sense of urgency. These will be the major keys in bringing down inflation to manageable levels and improving the welfare of the multitude of Filipinos struggling for daily survival especially during this crisis,” TUCP Vice President Louie Corral said.
He added that workers, consumers, and farmers must be consulted in finding solutions to the rising inflation in food and energy.
Addressing food security and bringing down power costs would be “gamechangers” for the Marcos administration, Corral stated.