Including the private sector in governance

For agriculture to succeed, private-sector participation in governance is necessary. This was demonstrated last Feb. 10 to Feb. 11 during the meeting of the elected 19 regional and 13 sectoral committee chairs of the legislated public-private Philippine Council of Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF).

These chairs discussed the results of the monitoring and evaluation they did in 2025 for Department of Agriculture (DA)-funded projects. They made several recommendations to improve agricultural governance.

Four key ones are identified here, categorized into: (1) reducing corruption and (2) expanding participation.

Reducing corruption: Checklist

The 35-percent rate of underutilization and nonutilization of DA-funded grants in 2025 was attributed to the lack in 2024 of a checklist of requirements before the grant was given.

The creation and implementation of such a checklist was recommended by the private sector and implemented in 2025. The checklist for each project was filled out by the DA regional executive director (RED).

Significantly, each had to be witnessed and signed by the Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Council (RAFC) chair for transparency and accountability. This has already resulted in the more responsible and effective implementation location of these grants.

Three DA REDs who did not use this checklist and continued to give the grants without the necessary due diligence have already been taken out of their jobs. They are the same ones who have been found negligent in other areas.

It was recommended that the successful implementation of the checklist usage, with corresponding penalties for those not complying, should continue and intensify to prevent further corruption and waste.

Reducing corruption: Bidding

The trail of corruption starts with the bidding for the project. Certain REDs unfairly limit the bidders to their favored ones. This often means money for them from the winning bidder. This comes at the expense of the farmers and fisherfolk, who do not get what is due them.

It was recommended that the list of accredited bidders from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System be given to the RAFC chairs. This way, other qualified bidders can compete, not only the bidders preselected by the RED. In addition, notice should be given at least 20 working days before the actual bidding to allow more to participate.

Expanding participation: Towns

The Municipal and Agriculture and Fisheries Councils (MAFCs) have too long been limited to only 500 out of our 1,493 towns. The MAFC is a legitimate, organized private sector body recognized by the municipal mayor and other municipal government officials as a source of information. The private sector representatives also make useful governance recommendations based on their actual perceived needs.

There must now be a systematic plan and budget to ensure that MAFCs are organized in all our municipalities. The required budget for this is only P16,0000 per town.

With such a small budget, the returns of private sector participation far outweigh this minimal cost. So far, the rate of approval by the government of PCAF’s private sector recommendations is more than 90 percent.

See Also

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Expanding participation: Feedback portal

Technology must be used through creating a portal feedback loop from the municipal to the national level. Recommendations and actions can be tracked both for better speed and improved accountability. A key component of this is the implementation scope of the Sagip Saka law authored by Sen. Francisco Pangilinan.

This provides the window for all government offices to purchase their agricultural supplies directly from the registered farmer and fisherfolk organizations. This often eliminates the middleman.

Also, this lowers cost to the government and higher income for the farmers and fisherfolk, with the usual middleman’s profit going to them.

There should also be an ideal target of 100 percent of government purchases coming from farmers and fisherfolk. Any deviation from this target can be tracked through this portal. Deviations that are not justified can be held accountable for not following the Sagip Saka law.

This kind of participation should be done down to the regional, provincial and municipal levels. Those interested in contributing to more private-sector participation should call their respective local government units to find out how this can be done through their respective local agriculture and fisheries councils. INQ

The author is Agriwatch chair, former secretary of presidential flagship programs and projects, and former undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry. Contact is agriwatch_phil@yahoo.com