7/29/2019 RA 9496

1/5

H. No. 2976S. No. 1648

~uhlit offlp~J 4ilippines

@ongr~ssoft4~'4ilippin~sJ 1lfftfrl1J 1lffaniill

J lf l1udeenf4 ([l1ngress

J lfirsf ~gular ~es~il1n

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-third day

of J uly, two thousand seven.

[REPUBLIC ACT NO. 949G ]

AN ACT TO EXTEND THE UTILIZATION PERIOD OF THEAGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS ENHANCEMENT

FUND, AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8178,ENTITLED "AN ACT REPLACING QUANTITATIVE

IMPORT RESTRICTIONS ON AGRICULTURALPRODUCTS, EXCEPT RICE, WITH TARIFFS,CREATING THE AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS

ENHANCEMENT FUND, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES"

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

Philippines in Congress assembled.

SECTION1. Section 8 of Republic Act No. 8178, entitled

"An Act Replacing Quantitative Import Restrictions onAgricultural Products, Except Rice, With Tariffs, Creating theAgricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and for OtherPurposes" is hereby amended, to read as follows:

"SEC . 8. Agricultural Competitiveness EnhancementFund. - To implement the policy enunciated in this Act, there is

7/29/2019 RA 9496

2/5

hereby created the Agricultural Competitiveness EnhancementFund, hereinafter referred toasthe Fund. TheFund shall consistofall duties collectedfromtheimportation ofagricultural products

under the minimum accessvolume(MAV)mechanism, includingunused balances and collections from repayments from loanbeneficiaries including interests, if any. The Fund shall beautomatically credited toSpecial Account183intheGeneral Fundofthe National Treasury: Provided, That fund releases shall notbe subject to any ceiling by the Department of Budget andManagement (DBM).

"The Fund shall continue to be set aside up to the year

2015,after whichthecollectionofduties fromtheMAVmechanismand the setting asideofthe amount collectedforthepurpose shallterminate. However, any remaining balance(s) at the date ofexpiration of the Fund shall not revert to the General Fund butshall continue tobeused forthepurpose forwhichit wascollected

and set aside.

"TheFund shall beset aside and earmarked by Congress:(a) for the protection of farmers against unfair trade practicessuch as smuggling, dumping of agricultural products or othersimilar acts of unfair trade practices; and (b) for the increasedproductivityoffarmers byprovidingthenecessary support servicessuchas, but not limited to, irrigation, farm-to-market roads, post-harvest equipment andfacilities,credit,research anddevelopment,other marketing infrastructure, provisionofmarket information,retraining, extension services, micro, small and medium scaleenterprises (MSMSE) in agriculture, aquaculture and fisheriessectors; young entrepreneurs, out-of-school youth, graduates ofagriculture, fisheries and related courses; agriculture and fishery

cooperatives, corporations and other entrepreneurs engaged ineconomic enterprises related to agriculture and fisheries andassistance and support to agricultural activities including, butnot limited to, the reduction of input cost, quality improvement,supply chain efficiencyand other infrastructure including accessaswellasanestablishedtransportation mechanismtowardsspeedydelivery ofproducts: Provided, That:

(1)preferential attention should becontinuously given to

products or peopleadversely affected bytherepeal or removal of

7/29/2019 RA 9496

3/5

quantitative import restrictions to agricultural products asprovided for in Section4of this Act;

(2) beconsistent withthepoliciesandpriority thrusts underRepublic Act No. 8435, as amended, otherwise known as theAgriculture and Fisheries ModernizationActvis-a-vis Goals1and2under theMedium-TermPhilippineDevelopmentPlan(MTPDP);

(3) be complementary and supportive of the various andcurrent funding assistance windows or programs of theDepartment ofAgriculture and other government institutions;

(4)enhancethecompetitivenessoftarget projectbeneficiariesor sectors, especially the small farmers and fisherfolk;

(5)provide product or servicecompetitiveness inthe localand foreign markets in terms ofproduct or serviceprices or feesand quality;

(6) promoteupstream anddownstreamlinkageswithrelated

andcomplementary agricultural activities;

(7) provide clear and verifiable proof of sustain ability ofoperations; and

(8) be beneficial to most, and not only selected, firms orgroups within asector.

"For purposes of this Act, local government units, state

universities and collegesorother government institutions involvedin the research and development of agricultural products mayavail of the ACEF in the form of financial grant without anycollateral orsecurity.

(1)Seventypercent (70%)foragri-basedproductionandpost-production, and processing activities including, but not limited

to, new export industries and agri-related infrastructure andequipment toachievemodernagricultural practices; andforpublicinformation and promotion activities including the establishment

7/29/2019 RA 9496

4/5

of a principal mechanism therefore to promote the desiredagricultural products and activities and create new market.

The following areas are likewise accorded priorities:assistance to individual Filipino farmers and fisherfolk,cooperatives and micro, small and medium scale enterprises asdefined in Republic Act No. 6977 engaged in the agriculturalproduction, farming, fisheries, agri-business and similar activities;

(2)Twenty percent (20%)forresearch and development andthecommercializationofsuch, includingtheupgrading ofresearchfacilities ofqualified state universities and colleges;and

(3)Ten percent (10%) to be used for the funding of acomprehensive scholarship program for agriculture, forestry,fisheries, and veterinary medicine education.

The Congressional Oversight Committee onAgriculturaland Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM)shall conductaperiodicreview of the use ofthe Fund."

SEC. 2.TheDepartment ofAgriculture, inconsultation withthe Congressional Oversight Committee on Agricultural and

Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM),shall forthwith revise andreform its implementing guidelines including the approvalprocedures inorder tospeed upthe processing and disbursementprocess and, in coordination with the Philippine InformationAgency,shall ensurethewidestinformationdisseminationpossibleof this Act.

TheDepartment ofAgriculture with the concurrence oftheCongressional Oversight CommitteeonAgricultural and Fisheries

Modernization shall draw upaprioritization plan forthe optimumutilization of the Fund.

SEC. 3. Repealing Clause. - Republic Act No. 8178 ishereby amended. All laws, decrees, executive issuances, rulesand regulations inconsistent with this Actarehereby repealed ormodifiedaccordingly.

SEC.

4. Separability Clause. - The provisions of this Actare hereby declared tobe separable and, in the event one (1) ormore of such provisions are held unconstitutional, the validity ofthe other provisions shall not beaffected thereby.

7/29/2019 RA 9496

5/5

SEC.5. Effectivity. - ThisActshall take effectimmediatelyuponits approval.

This Act which is a consolidation of House Bill No. 2976and Senate Bill No. 1648 was finally passed by the House ofRepresentatives and the Senate onDecember 18,2007.

.~'~CAPAGAL - Y Osident of the Philippines

illl1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1PG MA Hologram H 43707

.

, , : . , , ~ . , .;. ~.~

. ~ l.'