JV confident Filipino farmers' rights are protected as Senate ratifies anti-agri economic sabotage bill
Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito on Thursday, lauded the Senate's ratification of the bicameral conference committee report on the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Bill.
The Senate ratified the bicam report on the measure on Wednesday, May 22, 2024.
“Ang panukalang ito ay binhi ng pag-asa para sa ating mga magsasaka. Ito ay itinanim ng Senado para sa kanilang kinabukasan (This measure is a seed of hope for our farmers. The Senate planted this for their future),” said Ejercito, principal author of the bill.
The bill aims to repeal Republic Act No. 10845 or the “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act” and introduce stringent penalties for smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and forming cartels of agricultural and fishery products.
This way, the senator said, the measure will safeguard the state from economic saboteurs and protect the livelihood of Filipino farmers.
Ejercito pointed out that the measure will also level the playing field for local farmers as it “will purge our land of profiteers, hoarders, and cartels.”
“They are the pests who are choking our agricultural sector. This bill will uproot them and put them in jail, where they belong,” he emphasized.
At the same time, Ejercito commended Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, for shepherding the passage of the measure in the Senate.