The Philippines should call for “fair rules of the game” at the food and fertilizer market. The Philippine should defend its right, in its relations with the US and European Union, to access food and agricultural products without paying attention to the political aspect.
The Philippines is the ninth largest producer of sugar in the world and the second largest in Southeast Asia, next to Thailand.
The adjustment was particularly due to the full implementation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s directives to increase food supply and the passage of the Rice Tariffication Act.