Press Release
February 4, 2009

ANGARA FILES MAGNA CARTA OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERY DEVELOPMENT WORKERS
To further accelerate countryside development

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said there is a need to boost economic development in the countryside as the country faces the challenge of achieving food security under the looming threat of a global food crisis.

"The backbone of the Philippine economy remains to be the agriculture and fisheries industry. More than ever before, the country faces the challenge of achieving food security caused by, among others, spiraling fuel and energy costs and the degradation of the world's natural resources," said Angara, who is a former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) from 1999-2001.

He added, "We are spending billions of resources which otherwise could be allocated to long-term investments to boost our agricultural productivity. Our failure to initiate a long-term and focused effort to boost agricultural productivity could result to more poverty and widespread hunger."

Apart from long-term investments in infrastructure, Angara also stressed that there is a need to give a little boost to the men and women who comprise the agriculture and fishery development workers as they are the key to the success of Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997 (AFMA).

AFMA provides the policies and plans to the continuing modernization and development of the agriculture and fishery sector amid the ever-changing demands of globalization and food security.

With this, Angara has filed Senate Bill 3039 or the Magna Carta of Agriculture and Fishery Development Workers which seeks to accelerate the development and modernization of Philippine agriculture and more importantly, improve the economic and social well-being of agriculture and fishery development workers as well as their working condition and employment status. The said bill affirms the rights of workers identified as follows: security of tenure; prohibition of discrimination; safeguards in administrative privileges; normal working hours and overtime work; training and scholarship; right to join organization; freedom from interference or coercion; and human resource development. The bill also provides for incentives and rewards system.

"Our farmers have worked doubly hard to bring the agricultural sector to where it is today. The government, as well as the public, must recognize their efforts alongside the success of OFWs in advancing economic growth," Angara said.

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