Press Release
May 2, 2008

KIKO OPPOSES RICE CARTEL; URGES MALACAÑANG TO FORMALLY EXPRESS OPPOSITION TO OREC

"This is anti-poor and will only exacerbate hunger and poverty rather than ease it!"

Senate Majority Leader and Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan today opposed the creation of a rice cartel and appealed to those proposing the move to "think twice for humanitarian reasons."

"The rice cartel will be anti-poor, and its global implications will be tremendous. If the Philippines doesn't assert itself now as an ASEAN member and as a rice producing economy, we will soon be at the mercy of this proposed Organization of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC)!" Kiko said.

"Unless the Philippines can prove to be self-sufficient and no longer buy from Vietnam and Thailand, our participation in this rice cartel will only be to our disadvantage. We will have to follow their standards regardless of the impact it will have on our people. Imagine what will happen when the poor can no longer buy food because the bloc we thought would mitigate the problem is actually the same factor that is limiting our already limited options! We are the largest rice importer in the world and a cartel will impact adversely on the nation's poor. Let's not bite off more than we can chew!" Kiko said.

"What if the rice cartel imposes another increase? We've seen how OPEC resulted in creating a bloc that generates and shares profits among themselves. What assurance do we have that OREC will not be the same? We appeal to our ASEAN partners to reconsider their efforts at establishing a cartel. Long term unity in ASEAN will suffer and is imperiled by this move. We are not an exporting country so we can't be part of it. The government on behalf of the people must oppose this. Think of our people first and foremost," Kiko ended.

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