A MILITANT group has called on the country’s lawmakers to cross party lines and conduct a thorough investigation into the Philippines-China fisheries accord and 35 other agriculture and fisheries agreements which top agriculture officials, headed by Secretary Arthur Yap, signed on behalf of President Arroyo.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) made the call on suspicion that the agreements, like the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa), were too lopsided that the Philippines would be at the losing end of the deals.

In a statement, the group said Malacañang and the Department of Agriculture merely put the RP-China fisheries accord and 35 other deals on hold to pacify the outrage against such lopsided deals.  

“This strategy of Malacañang should not prevent the Senate from probing these 36 rural agreements which are 1,000 times more explosive than the ZTE scam and the RP-Spratly offshore-mining deal,” Pamalakaya said.

The militant group has also recently filed diplomatic protests against the RP-China fisheries accord and the Joint Marine Seismic Understanding (JMSU) before the Chinese Consular Office in Makati.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday conducted a hearing on the controversial RP-China fisheries, and was told that the accord will allow Chinese fishermen to fish even in municipal waters which are currently reserved for 1.8 million small fishermen and their 8 million dependents.

The congressmen in Wednesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture chaired by Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra were told the fisheries agreement and 35 other deals in agriculture and fisheries were suspended while consultations are being held with the affected sectors.

Congressmen are now contemplating on pushing for the cancellation of 36 agreements on agricultural projects entered into by the Philippine government with China that included the allocation of at least 1 million hectares of land for production of agricultural products for China’s consumption.

Mitra said there may be a violation of the Constitution on these deals.

“The Department of Agriculture through Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla admitted that the Constitution only allows the lease of alienable land of up to 1,000 hectares. But these agreements involved no less than 1,040,000 hectares of land to be leased to Chinese firms,” said Mitra.

“Is that legal and constitutional?” he asked.

Under the agreements entered into by the Philippine government with China, the former would lease a total of 1,040,000 hectares of land to be used for the production of hybrid rice, hybrid corn, hybrid sorghum and cassava.

Mitra added that another issue that is bugging is that all products produced from the leased lands would not be subjected to tariff.

“While the government, by practice, does not impose on local products exported, the produce coming from those leased lands are no longer local products but Chinese products. So why would you exempt them from tariff?” Mitra said.

Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) Rep. Roman Romulo of Pasig agreed with Mitra and said that while all the agreements have been suspended, he would welcome a total cancellation for contracts for agricultural undertakings.

Independent Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque said it was rather ironic for the country to allocate more than 1 million hectares to China for agricultural purposes when the country is experiencing a crisis in food itself.

“We have only 9 million hectares of arable lands, around 4.2 million hectares devoted to rice and corn and less than one million hectares of which are irrigated. Now, here were are leasing more than 1 million hectares of land to China of which we have to provide irrigation and the farm-to-market roads when we ourselves cannot provide irrigation and farm-to-market roads for our farmers,” said Golez.

“It’s rather ironic that we should allocate some P15 billion to provide irrigation for the 1 million hectares of land we would lease to China and construct farm-to-market roads to produce food for China when we are having a food crisis ourselves,” he added.

Mitra said he is supporting the position of Malacañang to suspend the agreements in view of the food crisis. But Pamalakaya said the outright scrapping of these agreements is the best political solution and not just its suspension.

A MILITANT group has called on the country’s lawmakers to cross party lines and conduct a thorough investigation into the Philippines-China fisheries accord and 35 other agriculture and fisheries agreements which top agriculture officials, headed by Secretary Arthur Yap, signed on behalf of President Arroyo.

MEMBERS of militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday assailed members of the House of Representatives for the approval of two bills allowing the conversion of farmlands for ecotourism projects.

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija—The National Food Authority (NFA) believes the rice situation in the country has improved after the influential industry players, the Confederation of Ricemillers Association of the Philippines (Confed), promised to buy the farmers’ palay (unmilled rice) at better prices and at the same time lower the cost of commercial rice.

AUSTRALIA-BASED Nido Petroleum Ltd. (Nido) has announced its plans to expand its drilling program in Service Contract 54 (SC54) by accelerating its shallow-water strategy.

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) spent $8 million to make attractive the salaries and benefits of its pilots to prevent them from leaving the country and work for foreign airlines.

RECOGNIZING that world oil prices continue to skyrocket day after day, Energy Secretary Angelo  Reyes said  the Philippines is determined to speed up the exploration and development of indigenous oil and gas resources, develop renewable energy potential and increase the use of alternative fuels.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the ban on the importation of meat and bone meal (MBM) feeds from Australia after the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) certified that such products are now free from bovine spongiform encelopathy (BSE), or mad-cow disease.