Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9)— The incoming secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) admitted that bringing down the price of rice to ₱20 per kilo – one of the aspirations of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. – would be difficult to achieve at this time amid the current situations in the market.
“I think it will be possible, but if you do serious pencil pushing, talagang pag-aaralan mo, ‘yung 20 eh mukhang sa ngayon medyo mahihirapan pa tayo,” Conrado Estrella III said in an interview with state media PTV-4. “Alam mo naman ‘yung presyo ng langis ngayon, pagkatapos yung presyo pa ng abono.”
[Translation: I think it will be possible, but if you do serious pencil pushing, if you really study it, the 20 (pesos) for now may be challenging. You know how the prices of fuel and fertilizer are.]
The former ABONO party-list representative —who will head the agency primarily tasked to implement government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program—vowed to launch further studies on the matter to move closer to the price target.
These include looking into the proper use of seeds, as well as soil management and analysis, among others.
“Ako, siguro hanggang mga 27 (pesos) nga ‘yan, 27, 28, pwede na ‘yan. Pero yung 20, eh talagang pag-aaralan ko nang husto yan,” Estrella said. “Talagang magsusunog kami ng kilay para magawa natin ‘yan.”
[Translation: For me, maybe around 27 pesos, 27, 28, that can be done. But 20, I will really study this. We will study this so that we can achieve this.]
Estrella and retired political science professor Clarita Carlos are the latest additions to Marcos’ Cabinet, after both officially accepted the offers for the DAR chief and National Security Adviser posts, respectively.
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Estrella acknowledged there will be a number of challenges for the sector, but noted that these can be handled with the support of Marcos and the public.
