Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Tuesday, March 31 announced that the AGRI-AGRA Team has organized a dedicated task force to closely monitor and respond to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

The said team is composed of representatives from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Senate and House of Representatives, and local government units (LGUs), to address challenges in the agriculture and fisheries sectors and their impact on consumers.

Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, said the team is focused on mitigating the impact of the Middle East crisis on the nation’s food security, agriculture sector, and overall economy, from the agricultural workers down to household consumers.

“The Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, congressmen, and the Senate met on agriculture, fisheries, and agrarian reform to have a task force that we will work together to monitor, form an ad hoc committee, crisis committee, and AGRI-AGRA Team to monitor this will be help, support, aid, assistance, in our food security concerns," Pangilinan said after his meeting with the AGRI-AGRA Team on Tuesday.

The senator also said there was a consensus over the proposal for a “Bayanihan” law, equipped with a supplemental budget, to address the looming energy and food crisis.

The said law would be patterned after the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which Congress approved and subsequently enacted into law at the height of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The proposed supplemental budget will include provisions on additional interventions to ease the burden of the current crisis on Filipinos.

Pangilinan noted that fuel costs account for 80% of fisheries production, while prices of fertilizers and feeds have also significantly increased because of the massive jump in the prices of petroleum products.

“All of that means there is a direct impact on the increase in food prices. So, how can we support our food producers? How can we support farmers, fishermen, jeepney drivers, and other sectors that are affected by this?” he pointed out.

“We can do that through an additional budget,” he stressed.

Those who attended the meeting included DA Secretary Kiko Tiu-Laurel, DAR Secretary Conrad Estrella, House Committee on Agrarian Reform chairman Rep. Leah Bulut-Begtang, House Committee on Agriculture chairman Rep. Mark Enverga, and House Committee on Food Security chairman Rep. Adrian Salceda.