Senator Joel Villanueva appealed to the Department of Agriculture (DA) for an increase in the financial assistance it would be handing out to farmers and fisherfolks, saying the amount reflected poorly the priority the government gave to people whose work ensured there is food on every table.
“I’m not sure it will be enough,” Villanueva said after hearing that each DA beneficiary stood to receive P2,352 in financial assistance. “To put it on record, there are about 9.3 million Filipinos employed in the agricultural sector, [and] ang target [beneficiaries] ng ating gobyerno is about 4 million. Ang i-rerelease na funds is about P2,000 kada isang farmer.”
“Kung narinig po ng ating mga magsasaka at mangingisda na ang [Department of Transportation] ay makakapagbigay [sa mga tsuper] ng P1,000 net per day, baka isipin nila na huwag nang magsaka o mangisda,” Villanueva continued. “We must understand that we are still an agricultural country.”
Agriculture Assistant Secretary U-Nichols Manalo earlier said the department only had P10 billion allocated under the 2026 national budget, and had about P150 million in continuing appropriations which were earmarked for fuel subsidies. Of the P150 million, P50 million was tagged by the budget department “for later release,” the official said.
Villanueva also quizzed Manalo on the status of the payout of the financial assistance to farmers and fisherfolks.
The DA official replied that about P6.5 billion of the P10 billion fund under the Presidential Assistance to Farmers and Fisherfolk has already been downloaded to regional field offices of the department and the distribution of the financial assistance was targeted to start on April 15.
“Mr. Chair, it took us a while because the release of funds will be through the Development Bank of the Philippines for farmers who have cards. Some of our beneficiaries have already been issued cards,” Manalo explained. “Unfortunately, we have legal concerns because some of the regional branches of the DBP have not yet been reconciled relative to the initial releases. So there’s an issue about liquidation.”
“And it’s not the farmers’ fault for the delay. Am I right?” Villanueva retorted, and Manalo replied in the affirmative.
