Amid sagging yield, banana sector eyes research center

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

T he Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) said establishment of the country’s proposed state-of-the-art Banana Research and Development Center has not progressed after years of back-and-forth discussions with the government.

PBGEA Executive Director Stephen A. Antig said the industry remains hopeful that President Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise of the muchneeded research facility would come true under his administration.

There is still no progress. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be passed by Congress. There are bills filed [at the House of the

Representatives]. Even in the Senate there is a bill filed by Sen. Imee Marcos,” Antig told the BusinessMirror in a recent interview.

A ntig said they hope other lawmakers would show support to the banana industry, which has been grappling with various challenges, just as Albay Rep. Joey Salceda did late last year.

Salceda, the vice chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, said the banana industry is facing a “life-or-death” situation and urged the administration to implement necessary interventions to keep one of the country’s prized agricultural exports surviving. (Re- lated story: https:// businessmirror .com.ph/2022/10/24/ life-or-death-for-bananas-timeto-press-japan-for-zero-tariffsmarcos-urged/)

We hope other lawmakers will be able to do that, to see the importance of the banana industry,” Antig said.

T he PBGEA has been lobbying for the construction of a research facility that would oversee the production of high-yielding and even resistant varieties to Panama disease that has been the bane of the industry in recent years . (Related story: https://businessmirror com.ph/2022/10/23/race-forsurvival/)

P BGEA estimates that about 15,000 hectares to 36,000 hectares of the total 88,000 hectares planted with bananas nationwide are infested with Panama disease.

A ntig warned that the banana industry would be in a more dire state in five years time if they will not be able to identify a Panama disease-resistant variety in the absence of a research facility.

I n the 19th Congress, four bills filed at the House of Representatives seek to establish a research institute or a council to oversee

ROBIN APPEALS TO HOUSE: GIVE PRIORITY TO CHA-CHA

the development of the banana industry. Two of the bills seek to establish a Banana Industry or Export Development Council while one wants to create the National Research Development and Extension Center for bananas.

A t the Senate, only Sen. Imee Marcos filed a related bill that wants to establish a Banana Export Development Council.

Nonetheless, all bills seek to appropriate the necessary funds for the development of the banana industry.

Even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had filed a bill establishing the Philippine National Banana Research Center in Panabo City, Davao Del Norte, during his stint as a senator in the 16th Congress.

T he BusinessMirror earlier reported that the Philippines’s banana exports extended its sagging trend as total volume last year plunged to a six-year low of 2.273 million metric tons (MMT), with producers grappling with production woes from high input costs to the spread of Fusarium wilt. (Related story: https:// businessmirror .com.ph/2023/02/23/ phl-bananas-still-sagging-onhigh-costs-pests/)

SAYING it is badly needed to boost the economy, Sen. Robin Padilla is seeking to persuade anew House of Representatives leaders to frontload enabling legislation for amending the Constitution’s “restrictive” economic features via Congress, through the Senate and the House of Representatives convening as a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass).

I n a radio interview over the weekend, he confirmed readiness to reach out anew to their House counterparts to prioritize amending the Constitution’s economic provisions through a constituent assembly.

Padilla noted, however, that the preference of the House to amend the Constitution “through a constitutional convention may take years, while needing billions of pesos in funding.”

“Ako po ay nagpakumbaba na po at nagpunta sa Kongreso, nagmano na po ako sa magigiting at mahal na mambabatas sa Kamara. At ako ay nakiusap na rin sa kanila, nagpaliwanag sa kanila, at kung kailangan ulitin ko po yan ay gagawin ko po ‘yan [I have humbled myself and gone to the Lower House and paid them my due respects. I have discussed this with them. And if need be, I will do it again],” he related on radio.

P adilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, affirmed his preference to amend the Charter through a constitutional convention, but added: “Time is short to amend the Charter’s economic provisions, aside from the cost of a constitutional convention, which may cost some P11 billion.”

T he senator stressed the preferred constituent assembly is “the most practical way to amend the economic provisions of the Charter, so the proposed changes can be brought to the public via a plebiscite timed with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan election in October.” P adilla stressed, “we need to move fast. If the economic amendments are approved in October, they can take effect immediately and Congress can pass new measures to open our economy to investments.”

If we were not having a difficult time economically, I would have preferred a Con-con. But now that we are living on borrowings, we must prioritize the economic provisions,” he added in Tagalog. Butch Fernandez