Philippines' Animal Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Delayed to 2028

AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said he expects the P20-billion Animal Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (AnCEF) to roll out in 2028, with the Department of Agriculture (DA) still putting together the regulatory requirements. At the DA’s budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Mr. Laurel said that the AnCEF was supposed to launch next year, but due to new General Appropriations Act (GAA) rules, the DA will not be ready to tap the fund next year. The GAA requires agencies involved in operating the fund to put together an organizational chart, staffing plans, and approval from the Department of Budget and Management, Mr. Laurel said. AnCEF is modeled on the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which takes tariffs collected from rice imports and uses them to modernize the rice industry. Mr. Laurel said that the DA met with Budget Secretary Kim Robert C. De Leon to address the issue. “We will revert to our 2026 budget more or less, and we’ll just add the bird buildup, the hog repopulation, and the NDA (National Dairy Authority) stock farm expansion,” Mr. Laurel said. Mr. Laurel said the DA will undertake “trial runs” to be ready to use the fund in 2028. Nora C. Oliveros, agriculture undersecretary for finance, said the AnCEF allocation will ultimately depend on tariffs collected in 2027. Asis G. Perez, agriculture undersecretary for Policy, Planning, and Regulations, estimated tariff collections from imported animal products of P22 billion per year driven mainly by the volume of meat imports in the last four years. “Per our estimate, there are more than enough resources available” to implement AnCEF, he said. The DA has proposed a P198.45-billion budget for 2027, 8% lower than its P215.69-billion allocation under the General Appropriations Act for 2026. — Marron Joshua F. Mendoza