Gov. Edgar M. Chatto personally received rice donations from the People's Republic of China through the Tier 3 Program of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) in Loon, Thursday. With the governor were Loon Mayor Lloyd Peter Lopez, Archie Lungay who represented First District Representative Rene Relampagos, other LGU officials and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) local and national staff headed by its Regional Director, Mercedita Jabagat. Earlier, China donated 800 metric tons of rice for Cebu and Bohol intended for the earthquake and Yolanda victims which were formally turned-over to the DSWD held at the National Food Authority (NFA) office in Cebu City. As was determined by the DSWD, Bohol stands to receive 10,000 bags of these donated rice to be distributed among the 17 hardest-hit municipalities by the October 15 earthquake and the town of Loon was chosen for its jump-off activity.

To personally oversee the ceremonial distribution, APTERR's Acting Manager Nongnooch Deetae, and Ye Anping, Director of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture of China, traveled all the way to Bohol from their respective countries. Facilitating the ceremony were NFA Assistant Administrator Atty. Efren Sabong and NFA Provincial Manager Peng Evasco. APTERR was established under an agreement signed by the Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry of the 13 member countries of the ASEAN Plus Three on October 7, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The original ASEAN member countries are: Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam and Lao People's Democratic Republic; while the Plus Three are Japan, China and South Korea. Going back in history, the 2007-2008 food rice crisis had caused great uncertainty then in the regional rice market.

The crisis led international organizations to broaden the definition of a food emergency beyond that induced by natural disasters and human-induced calamities, such as armed conflict, to include price-related factors as triggers. The ASEAN definition of food emergency does not explicitly capture large and rapid rice increases at present but the development of the APTERR after the food price crisis indicates recognition of the potential of food prices to trigger an emergency. APTERR's multiple objectives are to make rice available during emergencies, stabilize the price of rice, and improve farmers' income and welfare. The history of APTERR also dates back to the ASEAN Food Security Reserve (AFSR) Agreement of 1979. The agreement instituted the earmarked rice reserve system which was called the ASEAN Emergency Rice Reserve (AERR). APTERR comprises earmarked pledges, which are commitments from national reserves; and physical pledges, which are rice exclusively allocated to the APTERR.

Earmarked pledges form the major part of the commitments with a total of 787,000 tons. The Plus Three countries account for 700,000 tons; while the ASEAN member countries have pledged a total of 87,000 tons. Under its Tier Three Program, APTERR allows the release of physical stockpiles and cash donations for the procurement of rice to meet acute and emergency demand for food aid. A release can be triggered by a request from a recipient country or via an automatic system managed by the APTERR Secretariat. Recipient countries will be responsible for the distribution of rice under this tier, but they could do this with the assistance of relief organizations, if such help is required. This scheme is being applied here in Bohol where the DSWD is assisting the Provincial Government in the distribution of this donated rice to the recipients. This way, there would be improved food security without distorting the international rice market. The incumbent Provincial Government is more than thankful, not only to APTERR, but also, to all national and international organizations which are treading more than an extra mile to continue helping the Boholanos, in the spirit of humanity and volunteerism, priceless values which would continue to live on to boost the Boholano spirit of Bayanihan, says Gov. Chatto. (jlv/EDCom)