Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, disclosed that representatives from the agriculture sector have thrown their support for the approval of House Bill (HB) 4625 which the lawmaker authored.

During a recent public hearing presided over by Rep. Edgar Chatto (Lakas, Bohol), Felipe Panganiban, provincial agriculturist of Nueva Ecija, lauded the filing of HB 4625, describing the bill as "timely and appropriate."

He stressed, however, the need to implement first the six percent salary supplement on agricultural workers’ compensation provided for under Republic Act (RA) 8435, otherwise known as the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) of 1997.

Macarambon said the Magna Carta for Agirculturists should be part of the government’s bid to bolster its agricultural and food sufficiency programs.

Rosie Egeo, municipal agriculturist of Batangas, agreed with the views of Panganiban explaining that there is a big disparity in salaries between agricultural workers on the local level and those at the national level.

Even National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) representative, lawyer Nap Meneses, supported the bill’s objectives, saying that a number of its provisions will be helpful to agricultural workers belonging to the government sector.

Macarambon’s proposed measure emphasizes the importance for the government to provide agricultural development workers the much-needed financial support that will enable them to implement agricultural development programs.

In pushing for the passage of the bill, Macarambon said agriculturists perform a very important role in the transfer of agricultural technology to the countryside but the devolution of these workers from the national government to the LGUs by virtue of the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act 7160) has caused certain administrative problems that have an impact on the delivery of agricultural technology services.

Macarambon said LGUs are financially constrained to provide the agricultural development workers the necessary support to enable them to perform the services necessary to modernize the country’s agriculture sector.

According to Macarambon, the proposed Magna Carta will entitle agricultural development workers, including agricultural practitioners in government or non-government service, and those promoted or appointed as municipal or city agriculturist to certain benefits, which include representation and traveling allowances equivalent to those given to similar positions in the national government as well as hazard allowance for those agricultural officers or employees assigned in difficult areas and other areas declared under state of calamity.

For agricultural officers or employees required to make their services available at all times, they will be entitled to a full daily subsistence allowance of three meals.

Other benefits enumerated in HB 4625 are longevity pay, clothing allowance, retirement, and housing benefits.