Davao del Norte 1st district and former House Speaker, Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez floated on Tuesday, Feb. 21 the possibility of the Philippines being a future exporter of "good" cannabis or marijuana.
Alvarez made these remarks during the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs' deliberation of his measure, House Bill (HB) No.6783, which seeks to remove marijuana and any form or derivative of the substance from the list of dangerous drugs and substances under existing laws.
The Alvarez bill ultimately seeks the decriminalization of the use of marijuana.
During to course of the panel discussion, AKO-Bicol Party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon asked--out of curiosity--whether or not the Philippines produces the best kind of marijuana.
Lawyer Ferdaussi Masnar of the Dangerous Drug Board (DDB), who attended the hearing as a resource person, replied to Bongalon: "As far as the DDB is concerned, we have no data on whether the country is producing the best marijuana."
Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, committee chairman, then commented tongue-in-cheek: "So, we are producing the best? Yun ba yun? Tama ba yun? ( Is that it? Is that correct?) OK."
Hearing this exchange, Alvarez took the mic and said: "Mr. Chairman, I think that's a good point ha. If we can produce good product, so magandang for export yan (that is good for export), Mr. Chairman)."
Barbers and the other panel members chuckled over this. Alvarez smiled as well, but he had attested just minutes earlier to the "benefits" offered by the use of cannabis.
"And maybe, if we will allow the farmers to plant marijuana, baka yan na yung solusyon ng rice smuggling (maybe this could the solution to rice smuggling)," Alvarez further said.
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While Alvarez didn't explain how marijuana exportation can address the problem of rice smuggling--which hurts the livelihood of Filipino farmers--the bill sponsor envisioned that the same farmers could turn to planting marijuana instead.
The former House speaker said that marijuana--once decriminalized--could be regulated and taxed by the government like it does with liquor, sugary drinks, and cigarettes. This, in turn, would generate more revenues for the State.
Marijuana is an illegal substance under Republic Act (RA) No.9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.