AT THE 6th Multisectoral Agricultural Summit held in San Juan City, partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño pledged his party’s support in calling for the cancellation of the government grant of incentives and tax breaks to Charoen Pokphand Food Corporation, a foreign-owned agribusiness corporation.
“The Makabayan Coalition joins the summit, our colleagues in Congress from the party-lists Abono and AGAP, and the various agriculture industry associations in calling for a stop to the government’s preferential treatment to Thai firm Charoen Pokphand Food Philippines Corp. (CPFPC). The 6-15 year holiday on taxes and import duties granted by the Board of Investments (BoI) at the minimum undermines our national sovereignty and food security,” Casiño said.
Industry associations are objecting the BoI’s incentives to Charoen Pokphand, saying that the move will hit a local livestock industry that is already dealing with problems of outright and technical smuggling that government has not substantially addressed.
“Ang ginawa ng BOI ay patunay na ang gubyernong ito ay walang malinaw na direksyong pampatakaran sa agrikultura na pangmatagalan at pabor sa mga pinagsisilbihan nya dapat: ang sambayanang Pilipino,” said the Makabayan senatorial bet.
“It would be high treason if government does not heed the call of Filipino agriculture associations and businesses to stop favoring this foreign firm. It would also mangle our nation’s capacity to attain food security on the long term,” Casiño said.