By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
brazenness.”
In a video posted in his Facebook account on April 18, Kalinga District 2 board member candidate Christopher Donaal, a lawyer, promised that if he wins, he will immediately file a legislation to open up palay trading in the province to traders from outside the province with violators courting fines and jail term. He will also work for the establishment of bagsakans in the city and other parts of the province to make it easier for farmers to sell their produce and likewise to strengthen the organization of farmers so that they could fend for themselves.
Donaal said that rice farmers in the province particularly those in Tabuk City do not get the right prices for their produce because the 17 buying stations in the city control the prices and there’s nothing farmers can do about the prices they dictate. As proof, he cited that on April 17, the price in all the buying station was P14.50 per kilo. What’s worse, according to him, when farmers invite buyers from outside the province, these are disallowed entry.
Donaal prefaced his statement by saying that farmers in the province are being neglected by the “turay.” I agree with him wholeheartedly proof of which the rice cartel has been in existence for more than two decades now meaning our political leadership has not lifted a finger about the problem. I have been living in the city continuously in the last decades and I have not heard of the LGUs even just investigating the persistent allegations of the questionable activities of palay traders. In fact, Donaal is the first candidate I have heard who included the ending of the cartel in his agenda.
In a Facebook post on April 23, William Paleyan, a Tabuk resident and former chief of police of the then town, called on the Tabuk and Kalinga LGUs and concerned government agencies “to take action on the reported unscrupulous moves of some local palay buyers in this area prohibiting the entry of buyers from Nueva Ecija.” He said that that the action was purposely to control the price of palay which, according to him has been “set to P14/Kilo for several days if not weeks now” when, according to him, it should be at least P15.00 per kilo.
When I asked retired Anglican prime bishop Renato Abibico, one of those who reacted to the post of Paleyan, for comments, he said that Paleyan is right in directing his call to the LGUs recalling that this is not the first time that the LGUs have been apprised of the problem of the cartel. Abibico said that it was one of the concerns that was raised during the local protests against the Rice Tarrification Law (RTL). “Who protects the farmers if not the LGUs?,” he pointedly asked.
Abibico said that the LGUs should assess the problem raised by Paleyan in the context of the facts that even without the cartel, local rice farmers are already pummeled by the RTL and the skyrocketing prices of farm inputs particularly fertilizers. According to him, the LGUs could start by allowing outside buyers entry to give the farmers “bassit a laban.” Regarding the existence of a cartel, Abibico said it is evident in the fact that outside buyers are not being allowed to come in. “They buy at their own price and farmers are helpless specially during the rainy days,” he said.
On how come all these years farmers in Tabuk who number in the thousands are allowing themselves to be held hostage by a handful of individuals, Abibico said they are not organized, that they may have organizations but these are “sinsinan.” For one, according to him, the farmer organizations cannot even stage a rally to protest the brazenness. **
