ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider The Economy devider PIDS urges President Marcos to swiftly enact animal industry competitiveness bill into law

PIDS urges President Marcos to swiftly enact animal industry competitiveness bill into law

Published Sep 8, 2025 12:00 am  |  Updated Sep 6, 2025 02:59 pm
State-run think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to sign the consolidated Senate and House bills on the proposed Animal Industry Development and Competitiveness Act into law, touting its benefits for the livestock sector.
In comments submitted to the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs under the Office of the President (OP) on Sept. 5, PIDS senior research fellows Roehlano M. Briones and Sonny N. Domingo both welcomed the enrollment of Senate Bill (SB) No. 2558 and House Bill (HB) No. 11355, expressing support for their passage into law.
According to Briones, the measure aims to strengthen the animal industry by establishing strong regulatory and development institutions and providing sufficient resources to support production, particularly for small farmers and producers.
Briones emphasized that the reorganization of the public animal industry agencies is long overdue and marks a significant milestone under the proposed law.
He added that it provides assured funding for livestock, poultry, and dairy—sectors that are collectively larger than the rice sub-sector, which has traditionally received the bulk of government support.
Briones noted that the proposed law brings two key reforms: first, the consolidation of five Department of Agriculture (DA) agencies and programs related to the animal industry to strengthen coordination and efficiency.
It also establishes the Animal Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (AnCEF), modeled after the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) under Republic Act (RA) No. 8178 and the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under RA 11203, to provide sustained support for the livestock, poultry, and dairy sectors.
“AnCEF amounts to ₱20 billion annually over the next 10 years, to be funded from tariff collections of livestock, poultry, and dairy imports... Tariff collections in excess of ₱20 billion will still go to AnCEF for animal industry purposes, including capitalization of NDA [National Dairy Authority], direct financial support to farmers, etc.,” Briones noted.
However, Briones raised concerns about AnCEF’s “very large” allocation, noting that it could limit the fiscal space available for other government programs.
“Perhaps the DA should review its budget request for a separate NLP [National Livestock Program], even considering its outright abolition,” he added.
Meanwhile, Domingo said the bill seeks to strengthen animal industry institutions and channel resources into repopulation, genetic improvement, disease control, farmer support, and research and development (R&D).
“The proposed legislation is very much welcome since the country’s animal industries, despite contributing a third of the agricultural sector’s output, have been mostly private sector-led with minimal government support,” he said.
“The livestock, dairy, and poultry commodity systems are key drivers in Philippine agriculture, yet compared to other commodities, they have received limited attention and development assistance from the government,” he added.
Domingo noted that issues of competitiveness and the impact of biosecurity concerns over the past decade necessitate urgent change.
“Premium must be placed on the organization, retooling, and capacity building of smallholder growers,” he said. “Having a dedicated unit with this mandate within BAI’s [Bureau of Animal Industry] extended organizational structure would be ideal.”
Domingo also said the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and NDA working under one bureau could strengthen the local dairy industry by pooling complementary expertise, though safeguards are needed to balance regulatory and commercial roles.
As for the proposed AnCEF, he said this annual funding can boost technology adoption and productivity if insulated from political influence, managed sustainably, and implemented with flexible fund allocation to avoid rigid earmarking.
The enrolled bill was earlier transmitted to Malacañang, where the President has 30 days to either sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to lapse into law without a signature.
(Ricardo M. Austria)

Related Tags

Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.