MANILA, Philippines – No other agency deals directly with Filipinos’ gut issues — literally — than the Department of Agriculture. The agency, which oversees prices and supply of basic commodities that consumers buy everyday, is understandably under a lot of pressure and criticism.

“I’m here to manage,” said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Monday, February 10, in a Malacañang briefing. “I’m not a farmer, I am not [an] importer. I am the DA Secretary and here to manage the situation.”

The recent situation is as goes: the DA declared a food security emergency on rice, and approved the importation of 4,000 metric tons of onions.

Critics have said the food emergency is contrived or manufactured, declared to free up government warehouses of rice buffer stocks. The onion importation, on the other hand, had bad timing, a farmers’ group said. Local producers’ harvest season is already starting and will coincide with the arrival of imports, they pointed out.

“Tsaka mahirap naman na wala akong gawin ano, at hayaan na lang maghintay ako ng sitwasyon kung kailan ba talaga mag-ha-harvest ang farmers,” Tiu Laurel said.

(It’s hard not to do anything and wait for the situation when farmers will really harvest.)

The DA chief has been preoccupied putting out a lot of fires, following the wake of a series of quinta committee hearings at the House of Representatives late 2024. Aside from the food emergency, the DA imposed a maximum suggested retail price for imported rice. Not quite a price ceiling, which only the President can declare, but more of a benchmark for importers and traders.

Aside from rice, Laurel said they are eyeing to set a maximum suggested retail price for pork too. “Anything above P400 I think is unreasonable,” he said on Monday.

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Hunger and electoral promises

As the 2025 midterm elections approach, food once again becomes fodder for electoral promises (in a similar manner that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised the P20/kilo of rice.)

In a Social Weather Stations survey conducted in January 2025, food security is one the top advocacies that would make Filipinos vote for a candidate. It makes sense, as another SWS survey showed hunger rose between September and December 2024.

Kit Belmonte, co-convenor of consumer group CitizenWatch and former Quezon City representative, said food security must be on top of national priorities as the elections near.

“Leaders must champion real, actionable solutions — not just temporary relief or empty campaign promises,” Belmonte said in a statement on February 6.

“Voters, in turn, must use their voices and ballots to demand accountability and ensure that commitments translate into tangible, lasting change,” Belmonte added. – Rappler.com