By Liezelle Soriano

MANILA — Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo has been named the acting chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, according to House Secretary General Reginald Velasco.

This comes after Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co stepped down from the post due to health reasons.

Prior to this, Quimbo served as the Senior Vice Chairperson of the committee.

Velasco clarified that if House members opt to appoint a permanent chairperson, the matter would require formal approval.

In a statement, Co expressed gratitude to his colleagues in Congress for accepting his decision to resign.

“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the majority in Congress for graciously accepting my decision to step down as Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. This decision, made with a heavy heart, is driven by pressing health concerns,” Co said.

“The highly demanding nature of my role has taken its toll, and I now need to prioritize seeking the medical attention necessary for my well-being,” he added.

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By Junex Doronio

MANILA – Noting that the National Irrigation Administration’s (NIA) contract farming program could serve as a “golden parachute” for ensuring affordable rice in local markets, Marikina City Representative Stella Quimbo has called on the agency to conduct further studies.

These studies should determine the requirements and timeline for achieving the target price of P20 per kilo of rice.

Quimbo requested that NIA present their findings at future meetings of the newly-formed Quinta Committee, which is tasked with investigating issues related to smuggling, price manipulation of essential commodities, and addressing hunger, food security, and nutrition.

The committee is composed of several key groups, including the Committees on Ways and Means (chaired by Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda), Trade and Industry (Iloilo 4th District Rep. Ferjenel Biron), Agriculture and Food (Quezon 1st District Rep. Wilfrido Enverga), Social Services (Nueva Ecija 3rd District Rep. Ria Vergara), and the Special Committee on Food Security (Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Luisa Cuaresma).

During a recent hearing of the Quinta Committee, NIA Administrator Eduardo “Eddie” Guillen explained that the agency collaborates with irrigation associations (IAs), providing funds equal to 50% of the target yield for farm inputs, with the remainder paid at harvest time.

Under the program, farmers are free to sell any surplus yield above the contracted target.

Guillen estimated that the P29 per kilo price of rice reflects only 25% of the total yield under the contract farming program, with the remaining 75% being sold at higher prices. He also emphasized that the program aims to shift the practice of planting rice only during the wet season, when farmers are guaranteed water for their crops.

He added that NIA can supply irrigation water during the dry season, allowing farmers to harvest earlier, before the typhoon season begins.

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By Junex Doronio

MANILA — Lawmakers on Tuesday (10 December 2024) accused rice importers and traders of colluding to manipulate prices despite reduced import tariffs and an oversupply of rice, forcing Filipino consumers to bear the burden of artificially inflated costs.

During the House Quinta Comm hearing or the Murang Pagkain Supercommittee, formed under House Resolution (HR) No. 254 introduced by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo and AGAP Party-list Rep. Nicanor Briones laid bare a pattern of hoarding, shared ownership among top importers and profiteering.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Quimbo highlighted the disconnect between market conditions and prices, noting that the demand-supply ratio for rice dropped from 82.5% in 2023 to 69% in 2024, clearly indicating an oversupply.

“May excess supply. Kung ano ang kailangan natin na bigas ay mas mababa sa kung ano ang meron tayo. At kapag may excess supply, dapat bumaba ang presyo. Pero bakit hindi bumababa?” Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, told the mega panel tasked with identifying gaps in government programs and holding those responsible for market abuses accountable.

Quimbo described the situation as a clear case of collusion. “Nakita natin sa presentation ng PSA, klarong-klaro na merong pagsasabwatan,” she said.

Government data showed that as of Nov. 1, the country’s total rice stock inventory was estimated at 2.5 million metric tons—a 25% increase from the previous year.

According to Quimbo, importers and traders collectively profited a staggering P13 billion after rice import tariffs were slashed from 35% to 15% under Executive Order (EO) No. 62.

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By Junex Doronio

MANILA — It seems there’s no stopping for the Cha-Cha (charter change) train in 2024 as House Committee on Appropriations senior Vice-chairperson and Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo is determined to push for economic structural reforms including the amendments of the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

In a statement on Sunday, December 31, the last day of the year 2023, Quimbo said there is a consensus among economists and the business sector that the economic provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution should be liberalized.

“As our economy moves forward in 2024 and beyond, there is a growing consensus that reforms are needed in various areas to improve the state of our nation and to uplift the lives of the Filipino people,” Quimbo said.

However, she noted that amending the 1987 should address other issues, not just the economic concerns.

“Amending our Charter, however, must go hand in hand with addressing other critical issues: the cost of power, the traffic problem, enforcing contracts, reliable internet speeds, and the development of human capital,” Quimbo stressed.

The Marikina lawmaker proposed “a proper assessment (that) is necessary to determine the required reforms in the education and health sector.”

“The bottom line is we need to send a certain and predictable signal to the global investor community: the Philippines is ready, able, and willing to accept foreign direct investments,” Quimbo said.

Meanwhile, some political groups like the Diskarteng Pinoy in Region 7 called for the abolition of the Senate and the shift to a unicameral parliamentary system of government.

They argued that what the senators can do like crafting bills and conducting investigations in aid of legislation, the district representatives can also do as well, if not better, since they are in constant touch with their local constituents.

Unlike the congressmen who are contented in their old Batasan building in Quezon City, the senators will have a luxurious building in Bonifacio Global City with 86,000 square meters of floor space that will have four towers — six senators per tower apparently with 11 floors each — estimated to cost P10 billion.

(IAmigo/MNM)

By Junex Doronio

WITH THE RETENTION of Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo — who profusely defended Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential and intelligence funds only to expose later that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent P125-million CIF funds in 2022 in just 11 days — as member of the once ruling Liberal Party, (LP), the move has cast doubts on its moral ascendancy as an opposition political party.

Amid this quandary, some political observers said there is a possibility that a new opposition party or a coalition of opposition parties will emerge like the Akbayan of Senator Risa Hontiveros and the socialist Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) which fielded the Ka Leody de Guzman-Walden Bello tandem in the 2022 presidential elections.

“The enduring tradition of the Liberal Party is to allow its members to take independent views on national issues in recognition of a member’s freedom of expression and dissent. Rep. Stella Quimbo is still a member of the Liberal Party,” LP’s management committee said in a statement on Saturday, October 7.

Once the ruling party during the six-year term of the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the LP now has only seven members in the House of Representatives led by LP president and Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman.

Quimbo was a former professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics who was appointed by then President Noynoy Aquino in 2016 as a commissioner at the Philippine Competition Commission.

She resigned in 2019, ran for Congress under the LP’s banner, and won the Marikina 2nd District seat that year. Quimbo was reelected in 2022.

The Marikina City lawmaker has been defending the OVP’s confidential funds, but ironically Quimbo also revealed that the OVP spent P125 million CFI in just 11 days as she was speaking on behalf of the Commission on Audit (COA) during the plenary deliberation on the proposed 2024 budget.

“What can VP Sara show for it? Nag-mass hiring ba ang OVP ng libo-libong informant sa loob lang ng 11 na araw? Nagpatayo ba sila ng daan-daang safehouse sa loob lamang ng 11 na araw?” opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros quipped.”Babalik lang tayo sa paulit-ulit na tanong: Saan niyo dinala ang pera? Naghihintay ng resibo ang buong Pilipinas.”

Amid the CIF mess, the House of Representatives led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez decided to reallocate the CIF to agencies in charge of intelligence and surveillance activities in the face of continuing incursions of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

Ronald Llamas, political adviser of then President Noynoy Aquino and once rumored to be romantically linked with Hontiveros, said that “Risa is now the leader of the opposition.”

“Naipasa na ang baton kay Risa mula kay Leni (former Vice President Robredo),” Llamas said in a recent podcast interview. (ai/mnm)

By Dang Samson Garcia

MARIKINA City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo on Friday confirmed that the Department of Education and nine other government agencies will be affected by the plan of the House of Representatives to realign confidential and intelligence funds in the P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024.

House leaders representing big political parties earlier came out with a joint statement on their collective decision to reallocate the CIFs of civilian agencies to agencies that have to do intelligence and security work in a bid to address the escalating threats in the West Philippine Sea.

“Sa ngayon po ang apektadong ahensiya ay nasa 10 agencies,” Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations, said.

The Office of the Vice President and DepEd have a combined confidential funds of P650 million in next year’s budget.

“Patuloy po natin pang pinag-aaralan, tyina-chop-chop pa po ang iba pang mga pondo sa iba’t ibang mga ahensya. Patuloy po ang pag-rationalize natin ng confidential and intelligence funds,” Quimbo said.

The House approved the 2024 budget on third and final reading on Wednesday.