Kiko Willing to Work with Marcos Govt to End Hunger

At the filing of his certificate of candidacy, former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Tuesday said he is willing to work with the Marcos government to end hunger.

  “Handa tayong isantabi ang pulitika upang tulungan ang gobyerno dahil walang kulay pulitika ang gutom (We are willing to set aside politics to help the government because hunger has no political color),” Pangilinan said in his opening statement at the Manila Hotel set-up of the Commission on Elections.  

He noted that high prices of rice and other goods remain a problem for Filipinos. “Nais ko muling bumalik upang masolusyonan ang dinadaing ng ating mga kababayan (I want to return to public office to address the complaints of our people),” he said.  

As presidential assistant of food security and agricultural modernization in 2014 during President Noynoy Aquino’s presidency, he was able to bring down rice inflation from 15 percent to 0.8 percent within one year, the lowest inflation rate in the country in 20 years or since 1995. Market rice prices were pegged between P36 and P38 per kilo.  

Retail rice prices now are between P52 and P60 per kilo.

 “Nagawa na natin ito noon, kayang-kaya nating solusyonan ulit ito ngayon basta nagtutulungan ang lehislatura at ang executive branch. (We were able to do this before, we can easily solve this again now if the legislature and the executive branch help each other),” Pangilinan said.

Within three months after his appointment in the Cabinet, he went after smugglers and abusive traders and hoarders, confiscated smuggled rice worth billions of pesos, filed criminal charges against them, and revoked their permits. He also filed charges against corrupt officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) in six regions around the country.

As NFA chairman, he did this with the help of the Bureau of Customs, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.  

For the first time in NFA’s 42-year history, he changed the rice importation system, making it fair and timely.  

“Tinigil natin ang pag-import ng overpriced na bigas mula sa Thailand at Vietnam. Tinigil din ang tongpats (We stopped the importation of overpriced rice from Thailand and Vietnam. We also stopped commissions),” he said.

“Gutom ang taumbayan sa solusyon. Gutom ang taumbayan sa mga pangarap. Gutom ang taong bayan sa pag-asa. Kapag walang bahid, kapag tapat at totoo ang pamumuno at paglilingkod, mawawala na rin ang paggiging gutom ng ating minamahal na mga kababayan (The people are hungry for solutions, dreams, and hope. True and faithful leadership and service—without a trace of corruption—will end the hunger of our people),” he added.    

#TapatatTotoo #Kiko2025 #LalabanTayoKiko #HindiPaTayoTapos #walangbahid