(MANILA BULLETIN)

Nearly 10 million small farmers and fisherfolks in the country will enjoy lifetime pensions if and when this House bill from two Bicol lawmakers get enacted.

Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan and Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte jointly filed in the current 19th Congress House Bill (HB) No.7963, or the proposed Acr establishing the Agricultural Pension Fund (APF).

To be managed by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), the APF is seen to benefit some 9.7 million small farmers and fisherfolks, most of whom live in poverty.

Out of the figure, at least 708,000 agriculture sector workers would come from Bicol, said Yamsuan, citing the latest available data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“Our farmers and fisherfolk are among the poorest of the poor in our society. Despite their hard work and sacrifices to ensure that we have food on our tables, they retire without expecting any lifeline aid from the government," Yamsuan noted.

"Providing them with pension benefits when they reach old age is a long-overdue measure that Congressman LRay and I hope will be approved in this Congress,” added the neophyte solon.

The authors said in the explanatory note that the measure “recognizes that universal access to comprehensive and adequate social protection systems is an important tool to prevent and reduce poverty and inequality".

Under the bill, the PCIC is tasked to create a pension plan for retirees in the agriculture sector, and manage and invest the AFP to ensure its sustainability.

The PCIC, which is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), is also authorized under the measure to determine the criteria for eligibility of the potential agricultural pensioners, in coordination with other relevant government agencies.

PSA data as of 2019 show a steady decline in the number of workers in the agriculture sector over a five-year period. From 11.294 million workers in 2015, the number of employed in the agriculture sector fell to 11.064 million in 2016, 10.261 million in 2017, 9.998 million in 2018, and 9.698 million in 2019. All were pre-pandemic years.

The Bicol region accounts for the most number of agricultural workers, with 871,000 in 2015. However this figure dropped to 841,000 in 2016 and further slid to 698,000 in 2017.

In 2018, the number of agricultural workers in the region rose slightly to 741,000. But in 2019, only 708,000 workers were reported by the PSA.

A paper published by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in 2021 attributed the decline to population growth, as well as diminishing farm size and reduced incomes in agriculture.