Press Release - Opening statement of Sen. Cynthia. Villar during the joint organizational meeting of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM)

The Agenda for today's Joint Organizational Meeting and Public Hearing is the Convening of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the mandatory review and evaluation on the effectiveness of the R.A. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) which was passed in 2019, and is due for extension and amendments.

Under Section 13 of R.A. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law, the COCAFM shall be organized to conduct the review on the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to determine whether the RCEF should be continued, amended, or terminated.

Given the urgency of the issue and the strong demand from the stakeholders for the extension and amendment of the RTL, the Senate Panel invited the House of Representatives Panel for the COCAFM members to convene. However, due to the unavailability of the House members, the COCAFM was unable to meet. Consequently, the Senate and the House of Representatives conducted their reviews independently.

Now that Congress is back in session, both panels of the Senate and House of Representatives COCAFM can convene. So this meeting is being called.

For the Senate:

1. Firstly, the Senate Panel of the COCAFM reviewed the RCEF on May 14, 2024, with Senators Imee R. Marcos, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, Francis "Tol" N. Tolentino, Mark A.Villar, and myself in attendance. A total of 36 stakeholders, including farmer representatives, participated.

2. A public hearing was conducted by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform on its own on June 13, 2024, wherein a total of 19 stakeholders, including farmer cooperatives and their associations were in attendance.

3. Another public hearing was conducted by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform on July 4, 2024, wherein a total of 17 stakeholders, including farmer cooperatives and their associations were in attendance.

4. To further gather inputs from beneficiaries and other stakeholders, the members of the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform of the Senate, along with the COCAFM Secretariat, visited Isabela and Nueva Ecija provinces to conduct Focus Group Discussions from June 26, 2024, to June 30, 2024, where they were able to meet