Senator Kiko Pangilinan is calling for the immediate passage of Senate Bill No. 1624, which seeks to establish a Congressional Commission on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Security, or AGRICOM, as lawmakers continue to debate long-term solutions to persistent food system problems.
Pangilinan said the proposed commission is intended to go beyond the scope of regular congressional committees by serving as a focused, time-bound body tasked with examining the agriculture and fisheries sectors in their entirety.
He described AGRICOM as an opportunity to directly confront structural weaknesses that have repeatedly undermined food production and rural livelihoods.
Under the bill, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Security Commission would be mandated to conduct a comprehensive review of policies, institutions, and economic conditions affecting farmers and fisherfolk, and to submit concrete reform recommendations that government would be expected to implement. Pangilinan compared the approach to previous education commissions formed to address systemic learning gaps.
The senator said AGRICOM is envisioned as a high-level intervention aimed at resolving recurring problems such as fragmented agency mandates, misaligned incentives, weak extension services, poor data systems, and long-standing underinvestment in research and infrastructure. He also cited persistent inefficiencies in supply chains linking farms and fishing communities to urban markets.
Pangilinan further pointed to exploitative economic relationships in the agriculture and fisheries sectors, as well as regulatory capture and corruption within parts of the bureaucracy, as factors that continue to produce recurring crises. He said the proposed commission would function as a targeted reform mechanism designed to address these failures within a defined timeframe.
