Senate Hearing LIVE: Senate Panel Tackles Rising Oil Prices Impact on Agriculture & Fisheries

[0:00] When you put it, when you put it out? [0:04] Thank you. [0:06] Simple. [0:09] We know that the kamatis will harvest after 90 days. [0:17] It's about 90 to 120 days. [0:22] So, if we know that it was 90 days ago, [0:28] we know that it will harvest. [0:30] There are also 65 days or 70 days. [0:37] We know that. [0:39] So, that's the question. [0:41] Do you have a schedule of planting and harvest? [0:47] Do you have an inventory? [0:49] And if there is, where is that? [0:53] Do you have a regional director? [0:57] And then the logistics, etc. [1:01] May anong bang sistema ang DA? [1:05] For example, [1:07] they help connect. [1:09] So, I think basic information for Ahmad is, [1:14] since you are helping connect the farmers to the market, [1:18] then I think basic is, [1:20] do you have the harvest schedules of the farmers that you'd like to connect? [1:26] Do you have the list of the farmers groups? [1:30] And what they're planting? [1:31] And the schedules? [1:33] And the transport facilities? [1:36] And the fuel subsidy resources? [1:39] And are you doing it? [1:41] Do you have any kind of information system? [1:45] The DA through the Ahmad? [1:48] If we are like this in the government, [1:53] it's really hungry. [1:54] It's really hungry. [1:55] It's really hungry. [1:56] And what they said, [1:58] Amihan, [2:00] they said that they don't want to go to. [2:03] They said that they don't have to happen. [2:05] And it's so sad. [2:07] If that's the answer, [2:09] after six weeks of the crisis, [2:11] we are talking and we are planning. [2:15] I don't know, Chair? [2:16] Well, ideally, [2:18] Dapat, [2:19] Sa local level, [2:20] may gano'ng klaseng sistema. [2:22] Provincial, yes. [2:23] Provincial. [2:24] Sa probinsia. [2:25] But, [2:26] yun na nga yung indicator [2:28] nung sinabi ng ating Ahmad Assistant Secretary. [2:32] Dahil nga, [2:33] kulang ang tao, [2:34] hanggang regional lang sila. [2:35] Hindi talaga, [2:36] well, [2:38] unless nga, [2:39] merong mas mahuhusay [2:41] o mas proactive [2:43] na nakikipag-ugnayan agad [2:46] sa mga probinsya [2:48] na merong kapasidad [2:50] at interest. [2:52] Dahil sa amin, [2:53] basic eh. [2:54] Ako, [2:55] I've been farming for 12, 13 years eh. [2:56] Alam ko, [2:57] kailan ang planting ko. [3:00] Alam ko, [3:01] 45 days later, [3:02] meron akong [3:04] isang tonelada ng lettuce [3:06] kasi 15 days open plot, [3:09] 30 days greenhouse. [3:11] Ah, sorry. [3:12] Nursery tapos greenhouse. [3:14] So, alam ko, [3:15] 45 days from now, [3:16] meron akong isang tonelada. [3:18] Kasi, [3:19] ganun ang 1, [3:20] 1.5 to 2 kilos per square meter, [3:24] depende sa panahon. [3:25] So, pag alam mo may 1 ton, [3:29] saan mo dadalin? [3:31] Alam mo yun. [3:33] Kung alam mo yung planting, [3:36] everything else follows. [3:38] May we hear from DA, [3:39] kasi, [3:40] ano po yung inyong action plan, [3:42] contingency plan? [3:44] We're six weeks into the crisis. [3:46] We don't want to hear, [3:48] you're still planning. [3:49] Because, [3:51] maski walang crisis, [3:52] dapat, [3:53] tinutulungan natin, [3:54] kinokonekta. [3:55] At saka, [3:56] sabi nyo, meron namang kadiwa eh. [3:57] Alam na mati, [3:58] may kadiwa. [3:59] So, yung kadiwa, [4:00] ba't hindi nyo kinokonek? [4:01] Ano po? [4:02] We want to understand. [4:03] Mr. Chair, [4:06] and Madam Senator, [4:09] Unicles Manalo po, [4:11] Assistant Secretary for Operations. [4:13] To respond po muna dun sa tatlong question. [4:15] Okay. [4:16] In terms of monitoring, [4:18] ang DA po, [4:20] through our different programs [4:22] in partnership with the local government units, [4:25] had a directory of our direct beneficiary. [4:29] Ano po? [4:30] Yung binibigyan ni corn, [4:31] ni rice, [4:32] ni high value, [4:33] ni livestock for the dispersal. [4:36] Meron po kaming listahan. [4:37] Okay. [4:39] Alam po namin kung ano yung schedule ng planting. [4:43] Alam namin kung ano ang schedule ng harvesting. [4:48] In twice a month, [4:50] nagre-report po ang ating local government units [4:53] dun sa aming tinatawag na [4:55] Operational Monitoring and Information System, [4:58] o MIS. [4:59] Yung planting nila, [5:02] tapos kung yung sa mostly planting. [5:05] Bakit po? [5:06] Ito po yung ginagawa, [5:07] ginagamit nating data, [5:08] pag merong mga calamity. [5:10] At doon natin nakikita, [5:11] kung ito yung pot ng typhoon, [5:13] magbibigay tayo ng advisory [5:15] together with the information coming from DOST Pag-Asa. [5:18] Ano yung standing crop? [5:20] Anong klaseng commodity? [5:21] Ready na po bang i-harvest? [5:23] Meron po tayo. [5:24] Doon sa unang tanong po, [5:26] meron po tayong data. [5:27] Pangalawa, [5:28] doon sa tanong po na may pondo pa para itulong ibili. [5:33] Wala pong pera ang DA para itulong ibili. [5:36] Kung ibibili natin, [5:37] wala pong pondo nun. [5:38] Hindi po namin tinatanong kung kayo ang bibili. [5:43] Yung connection, [5:44] yung parang ginagawa po ng Ruri. [5:46] Yes ma'am. [5:47] Connecting it to the markets. [5:48] Pero, [5:50] kung meron ba kayong inventaryo, [5:52] syempre meron, [5:53] ng transport service providers [5:55] at may fuel subsidy ba kayo [5:57] para yun man lang ang itulong sa magsasaka [6:00] yung fuel subsidy at yung arkila [6:02] ng mga truck para i-connect sa merkado. [6:05] Yun lang po ang tanong namin. [6:06] Simple. [6:07] Thank you, Madam Senator. [6:11] Pag co-connect po, [6:12] ito po na-explain na ni Asik Bebang. [6:15] Pero po, wala po kaming fuel subsidy [6:17] for the truckers. [6:18] Or even, [6:19] ang naibibigay po namin, [6:20] well, na-experience namin ito during the pandemic. [6:22] Namigay po ng trucks. [6:24] Ladong dun sa mga FCA's [6:26] na nabigyan ng pondo [6:27] para magtindas mga kadiwa noon panahon. [6:29] Pero, [6:30] pati po, [6:31] panghingi ng crew dun ang hingi eh. [6:32] Kasi hirap din sila eh. [6:35] So, [6:37] dun po sa binabanggit naming mga fuel subsidy. [6:40] Again, [6:41] bakit po namin hindi nagamit yung 150 million [6:43] given to DA. [6:45] Kasi yung last year po na naibigay, [6:47] the third part of the year siya na-release, [6:50] pero ang trigger point noon is pag nag [6:54] 100 dollars per barrel [6:56] na nangyari January of last year. [6:58] So, hindi na gamit yung pera. [7:00] Sa ngayon po siya gagamitin. [7:02] I mean, dito po, [7:04] ngayon taon dahil tumaas na po yung ano eh. [7:06] So, may mga, [7:07] ang pondo po kasi natin na nasa gobyerno, [7:10] alam naman po natin na may sumasakop na mga... [7:14] is itong mga loss. [7:16] That's why we need the help from our government. [7:21] Mr. Chair, members of the committee, [7:23] we are operating at the edge [7:25] and we are getting closer to crossing it. [7:28] Every day that passes, [7:31] without intervention, [7:32] more boats are forced to stop. [7:35] Please help us keep this boat running. [7:39] Please help us keep the food accessible and affordable. [7:45] And please help us respond to this crisis [7:49] before it goes irreversible po. [7:52] Because once this boat stops, [7:57] hindi po ito ikaagad may babalik. [7:59] Thank you po and good morning. [8:02] Maraming salamat, Mr. Teng, Kendrick. [8:06] Nabanggit ninyo na may mga nagsasara na. [8:09] Hindi na nag-ooperate. Tama ba yan? [8:11] Yes po. Daily po. [8:14] Mayroon po nag... [8:16] Yes, may tumatawag sa akin on a daily basis [8:19] that's telling me that they'll stop operation muna [8:22] and we'll see. We'll see. [8:24] Pag nag-stop operation yan, [8:27] anong nangyayari sa empleyado nila? [8:29] As much as possible, [8:31] they give allowance. [8:33] But I think it's very hard to sustain [8:36] kung ganun lang forever. [8:38] And would you have a number of ilan na sa inyong... [8:41] How many are you in your organization? [8:43] Ilan ng mga... [8:44] Total organization kami. [8:47] More than a hundred members po. [8:50] And you mentioned the... [8:52] Of the hundred, [8:53] mayroon nang nag-stop operation. [8:55] Ilan yon? [8:57] Ibat-ibang companies. [8:58] Some of them stops one or two fleets. [9:01] Some of them stops the whole operation. [9:03] Probably around four or five na ngayon [9:05] na company narinig ko na nagsabi [9:07] either they'll stop one or two sets [9:09] or they'll stop all of their operations. [9:13] Okay. Okay. Thank you. [9:15] We just wanted that on record. [9:16] Yes, sa Tuna Manufacturers Association. [9:21] Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. [9:24] I have one question lang muna [9:29] before I make a presentation on the tuna. [9:32] Why is sardines not included in the discussion on fisheries? [9:37] Well... [9:38] We were not invited. [9:39] I also represent the sardines group. [9:42] Yes. [9:43] Well... [9:45] We will invite them in the next hearing. [9:47] Yeah. Ako rin yon. Ako rin yon. [9:48] Oh, yun pala. [9:49] So... [9:50] Yung baboy, iniwa ko na talaga kay Jason. [9:52] Okay. Go ahead. [9:54] Yung ano, the tuna group, the one that you invited was Tuna Manufacturers Association of the Philippines, no? [10:21] This used to be called TCAD, Tuna Canaries of General Santos. [10:27] And I belong to Tuna... Tuna Canning... [10:34] Cantuna Exporters in the Philippines, which is the umbrella group. [10:40] So they asked me to represent them in this hearing because I am based in Manila. [10:48] And many of them are requesting kung saan na makaroon tayo ng... [10:52] Altawag dito yung hybrid connection. [10:58] Because most of the tuna canaries are in Sambuanga or in Jensen. [11:05] So anyway, I will convey to them whatever we discuss here, no? [11:08] Please go ahead. [11:09] Now, ang tuna... [11:11] Ang tuna capacity is about 830 metric tons per day and capacity. [11:20] But we are now only doing 580 metric tons. [11:24] Almost 40%. [11:26] Almost 40%. [11:29] And then two... [11:31] There are already two suspensions of operations out of only the remaining five canaries. [11:41] I am not... [11:43] I cannot disclose who they are. [11:45] But the brands will continue. [11:48] Because there are also tall packing arrangements among themselves, no? [11:53] The problem of tuna is more of the raw material supply. [11:59] Raw material supply because as an exporter, tuna is more an export product, more than a domestic product. [12:07] That's the reason that I'm looking at canned sardines as the one that is for domestic. [12:13] Ang problema ng canned sardines here is... [12:18] The first, three parts of the Philippines are affecting the supply of sardines. [12:30] You have municipal waters where commercial fishing cannot catch. [12:34] And commercial fishing happens 15 kilometers beyond shorelines, which municipal fishermen cannot reach. [12:45] Bumabaliktad na sila eh sa mga baka lang nila. [12:51] O natutunan na yung dala nilang yelo. [12:53] And then beyond that, you have the barm waters, which is another problem. [12:59] Because nobody can fish barm waters. [13:02] Alam ni Yusek Perez yan, ano? [13:06] Diba? [13:07] So anyway, we have to reckon with those limitations. [13:13] Ang problema kasi ng isda is it is correlated directly to cost of fuel. [13:21] You cannot catch fish without the fuel. [13:24] You use banka, ano? [13:26] So pag tumaas na tumaas yung fuel, talagang tataas ang isda. [13:31] And what is happening to local fish, canned fish, is there is what the DTI imposes as SRP. [13:42] Don't increase your price. [13:44] Hold down the price. [13:46] It has gone up three times already. [13:48] And we are still being told don't don't sell higher than the SRP. [13:56] So what will happen is there's going to thin out a supply of SRP products. [14:01] Mapo put as a standard and premium grade sardines, which is going to be more difficult to to afford among our consumers. [14:13] So the problem with export tuna is if we cannot deliver on our contract commitments, we start losing our supply. [14:28] And when you lose that, it's very hard to get them back because they shift to other sources. [14:33] Now, you know, you know, you poor problema. [14:35] E liliman na lang yung natitirang export producers. [14:39] Malalaki nga. [14:40] Malalaki, pero it's not as big as to be able to compete. [14:44] So we need to protect them and fuel is the the main cost of of tuna or fishing fishing operations as Kendrick is saying. [14:57] No. [14:58] So we are looking at ways and means how to work this out. [15:02] I have a certain idea. [15:04] I don't know if this works. [15:05] If you instead of you that directly to the producers of farmers and so forth. [15:12] I don't know if you can think of you that to the manufacturers because you help the manufacturers any lower price to benefit the consumer. [15:23] The citizenry. [15:24] Pwede namin ibabaang. [15:25] Kung hindi ganong kataas ang fuel that we are consuming, we can hold our prices or even go down. [15:35] Because if it can go down, then you can sell your canned fish lower in price. [15:42] You help the manufacturers and you help the people afford the fish more. [15:49] It's an idea. [15:50] It may be unpopular because it's a subsidy, but I'm just thinking we are in an emergency situation. [15:57] We had nothing to do with the war. [15:59] Enough affected the time you can't solve an international problem with a domestic solution. [16:05] It doesn't work. [16:06] So I don't know if that signal says I should stop talking. [16:10] Yes, that is your five minutes. [16:15] Okay, anyway, I have a paper written by two manufacturers. [16:22] Yes, please. [16:25] I will clean it up and then I will submit it to your office. [16:29] Well, you know, kung napansin ninyo, lahat dito ay may kinalaman sa sektor ng, apart from government, no? [16:38] Yeah. [16:39] Nang food. [16:40] Nandiyan ng restaurant associations, nandiyan ng feed millers. [16:43] So we're looking at, you know, a holistic approach to addressing itong potent, you know, what we're looking at as a possible food shock. [16:53] So whether you're a manufacturer or you're a food producer or you are, as long as you're in the agri industrial, agri production, agri fisheries, kasama lahat yan. [17:09] So please submit your position paper. [17:12] I will submit to one from the canned sardines group and the other tuna group. [17:17] Yes. [17:18] Do you still, do you still import tomatoes, tomato paste? [17:24] Yes. [17:25] Yes. [17:26] Mostly from Mongolia. [17:28] So you, you, you import tomato paste, tomato paste paste. [17:33] How many, are we still producing about half a billion cans? [17:38] Hindi po siya, hindi siya process grade. [17:41] Ang problema, the reason we have to import is the viscosity of, of certain varieties of tomato in, in Mongolia has, and then yung lapot na kailangan namin for canned sardines. [17:56] The ones that are produced here, red creole, et cetera, tomato, are all for sardines, yung ginagamit ng mcdonalds and other, that cannot be used for canned. [18:12] It cannot be produced here? [18:14] It can. [18:15] I, I think, I wish, I would like to encourage further studies. [18:20] Okay. [18:21] As a matter of fact, nagsara na yung planta sa Ilocos, eh. [18:25] Yung, ah, northern, northern foods. [18:28] Yes, yes. [18:29] Okay. [18:30] No, I just, I just raised that because, ah, kakabanggit lang kanina, eh, yung, tinatapon na lang yung, yung, ah, kamatis dahil, ah, 5 peso sa kilo. [18:44] Tapos, eto naman, nag-i-import ng kamatis. [18:46] Ah. [18:47] 12,800,000, ah. [18:51] And how many, how many cans of sardines do we produce a year? [18:55] 2.1 billion cans. [18:57] A year? [18:59] A year. [19:00] So how much is that in a month? [19:01] About a hundred million? [19:03] A 200 million? [19:04] About. [19:06] 200 million cans a month? [19:08] Uh-uh. [19:09] Of sardines. [19:10] Okay. [19:11] It's more significant than the two, ah. [19:13] Yes, yes. [19:14] Ah, okay. [19:16] Yes, ah, Kendrick, go ahead. [19:18] Just to add lang po, very short. [19:20] Ah, ang fishing season ngayon is not limited up to June. [19:24] It's actually almost whole year na tayo kasi we can go farther away. [19:28] It's not as far as PNG and high-sea pocket. [19:31] That requires a lot of fuel consumption. [19:33] And as a second issue ko lang, sir. [19:36] 9 months. [19:37] Ah. [19:38] I think it's important malaman din nila kung alilan yung nawalan ng trabaho doon sa mga [19:43] canaries na na close. [19:45] Sa tuna, we've lost from 15,000, more than 15,000, ah, ah, employees down to only 12 now. [19:56] We've lost 3,000 already in the last four months. [19:59] 3,000. [20:00] Ah, una-una, most of the people that work in canaries come from- [20:04] ...