In the Philippines — despite being an archipelagic nation of over 7,600 islands, with a land area of about 30 million hectares and a massive oceanic footprint spanning 2.2 million square kilometers — farmers and fisherfolk are considered among the poorest of the poor.
The average daily wages of Filipino farmers and agricultural workers, according to the latest data, range from P280 to P350. Rice farmers, who cultivate around 1.4 hectares of land, have monthly household incomes averaging P9,670, way below the estimated P13,000 to P20,000 monthly living expenses defined by the Philippine government as the official threshold for a decent, non-poor existence for a family of five.
Like any other farmer before him, Benigno Prestado of Brgy. San Agustin, Bula, Camarines Sur has been farming for 25 years, stuck in an income that leaves no room for savings or medical emergencies.
It wasn’t until Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan’s Sagip Saka Act, the 2019 law that he authored and helped pass to allow national agencies and local governments to buy food directly from accredited farmers and fisherfolk without public bidding, that Mang Benigno finally saw a glimmer of hope.
“Ang Sagip Saka, maraming tulong yan sa magsasaka dahil ang presyo ng palay, mataas. Mataas ang presyo, nakapagpaaral po ako,” he said.
His eldest, he shared, is now with the Philippine Navy; his middle child works in a tire supply shop; and his youngest is a nursing student at the Naga College Foundation, Inc.
Mang Benigno is a member of the San Agustin-San Ramon Agrarian Reform Farmers Cooperative (SARFC), an accredited farmers’ cooperative that has supplied rice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) “Walang Gutom” program since 2024.
When Kiko sought his fourth term in the Senate, he carried with him the success and the frustrations of the Sagip Saka Act.
“Part of the reason bakit ako tumakbo muli ay dahil di nai-implementa ang batas,” he said once in a media interview.
Stories like that of Mang Benigno are what propelled the veteran lawmaker to seek another chance to fulfill a promise he made not in 2022 under his “Hello Pagkain, Goodbye Gutom” campaign, and not even in 2025 through his “Walang Kulay Ang Gutom” rallying cry.
This was a promise he made even before he first forayed into public service, back when he was a pro bono lawyer whom his father used to tease for foregoing a more lucrative legal career.
He made a promise back when he was a student activist during the Martial Law years that he would use his skills, his knowledge, whatever semblance of power he has to help his people—those who pinned their hopes on false promises, those whose pleas have been cast aside, those whose cries remain unheard—not only dream of a better Philippines, but live it.
First order of business
For Kiko, fulfilling that promise starts with the full implementation of Sagip Saka across all government agencies and instrumentalities, which would require many of them to allocate at least half of their food budgets to the program.
Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Circular No. 02-2025 removes ambiguities in the law’s implementation that have previously hindered government agencies and local governments. The resolution, a stand-alone guideline for Sagip Saka’s implementation, strengthens the law’s inclusive procurement, allowing the unimpeded purchase of palay (unmilled rice) from accredited farmers’ cooperatives.
The senator also worked with Malacañang on two critical components of the law’s implementation—Executive Order No. 100, which establishes a mandatory floor price for palay to protect farmers from low farmgate prices, and Executive Order No. 101, which ensures the full implementation of the Sagip Saka law.
“Now, the GPPB resolution is finally out. And so, with the GPPB resolution, as well as EO 100 and 101 on the full implementation of RA 11321, we now see many of the hurdles that were confronted in its implementation since it was enacted as law in 2019, we now see these hurdles being set aside,” he said during a budget hearing in November.
“In the last two elections, as I go around the country bringing the law and turning it over to many local officials, many of them were, number one, unaware that this law was actually in place, and number two, for those who are aware, they were concerned because there were COA (Commission on Audit) questions in its implementation,”he added.
Kiko is also relentless, having gone around the country to meet with local officials to discuss the Sagip Saka Act. From Baguio City to Pampanga to Camarines Sur to General Santos City, he has brought with him a copy of the law, along with the GPPB resolution and EOs 100 and 101, to urge local chief executives to tap the limitless potential of their community farmers and fisherfolk.
“Dala-dala ko ito sa buong Pilipinas. Yung batas, yung GPPB resolution. Nandito na rin ang Executive Order 100. Narito rin ang full implementation ng Sagip Saka Act na EO 101,” he said in May.
“Kahit saan ako pumunta, nasa kotse ko ito, dinadala ko. Pag may nakilala ako kung sino man yan, manililimos tayo ng mga tutulong at susuporta sa mga pamahalaang lokal, pamahalaang pambansa para matiyak ang full implementation nito.”
Highest agricultural budget since 2010
Kiko knows too well that the Sagip Saka and any other reforms he will push for will have no real power if the Department of Agriculture (DA) doesn’t have the resources to implement them. Thus, as chair of the agriculture committee, he worked for the agency to have the highest budget of P214.39 billion, including P185.8 billion for the Office of the Secretary and P28.62 billion for attached agencies, since 2010.
Under the agency’s 2026 budget, Sagip Saka also gets P500 million to support a pilot implementation covering 17 to 27 cooperatives and associations. This benefits around 9,950 farmers and fisherfolk.
“The 2026 budget shows agriculture becomes a priority again. Malinaw ang gusto nating outcome sa budget na ito: tumaas ang kita ng ating farmers and fishers, at mas masustansya at abot-kayang pagkain para sa lahat ng pamilyang Pilipino,” he said.
The DA’s budget also set aside P1 billion for the Bio-Security for Agriculture and Fishery Enforcement Project (Bio-SAFE Project), a national border-protection initiative by the government to stop food smuggling, prevent animal and plant disease outbreaks, and inspect imported goods before their entry into the markets.
This initiative is a particular focus of the senator, having zeroed in on agricultural smuggling for harming local food producers, destabilizing incomes, spreading diseases, creating artificial supply shortages, and impoverishing the agricultural workers.
Battle for food security
In his first year back in the Senate, Kiko found himself not only in the fields talking with farmers, fisherfolk, and other laborers, but he also found time to be at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) to join the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in leading the country’s anti-agricultural smuggling campaign.
During the numerous hearings he conducted as chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, he invited experts from various fields and subsequently sent uncooperative individuals to detention after they provided questionable responses and fake documents.
His committee, whose chairmanship he has recently regained after the embittered power struggle in the Senate leadership in May, continues to look into rampant overimportation and hoarding, as well as the entry of agricultural products unfit for consumption.
Kiko is also investigating possible collusion between Chinese traders and government officials, corruption and bribery within government agencies, the use of dummy accounts for farmers’ and fisherfolk’s cooperatives, and the reported blocking of farmers’ and fisherfolk’s access to cold storage facilities by operators.
The senator, who has championed rural development and food security for more than a decade, calls agricultural smuggling a “national security threat” as it undermines the livelihood of farmers and fisherfolk and destabilizes domestic food production systems.
“Systemic ang pagpapahina ng ating seguridad sa pagkain at ng magsasaka at mangingisdang Pilipino. Gaya ng nabanggit natin sa ilang pagkakataon, food security is a national security concern and therefore, agri smuggling is a threat to our national security,” he said in December.
Lamenting the failure of the judiciary to bring smugglers to justice, with only four out of the 132 agricultural smuggling-related cases from 2021 to 2025 filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ), Kiko is also leading judicial reforms as chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
“Hindi uunlad ang lokal na agrikultura, mananatiling mahal ang pagkain, mananatiling gutom ang ating mga kababayan dahil hindi makabili ng sapat at masustansyang pagkain sa gitna ng ganitong pamiminsala,” he added.
Addressing the fuel crisis
When hostilities broke out between the United States-Israel alliance and Iran in February and the eventual blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, Kiko raised concern about what this means to the country’s food security and its agricultural sector, which is largely reliant on imported fossil fuels and fertilizers.
“Regional conflicts such as those in the Middle East have ripple effects on our food production because we import fuel, fertilizer, and other items that are essential to our food production. We must act now to cushion our farmers and fisherfolk—and thereby the Filipino households—from massive spikes in the prices of food and other commodities,” he said.
He immediately filed Senate Bill No. 1940 a week after the Middle East conflict began. The bill aims to give the President the power to suspend or reduce fuel excise taxes during national or global economic emergencies, leading to P3 to P6 per liter of savings on fuel.
He also launched a hearing on the impact of rising fuel costs on food production, ensuring that stakeholders had a proper venue to voice their concerns and present their recommendations.
The senator pushed for short-term safeguards in the form of cash assistance, fuel and fertilizer subsidies, access to credit and market, and possibly food price monitoring and control to mitigate immediate risks due to the Middle East conflict.
By urging key government agencies to prioritize farmers, fisherfolk, and the transport sector in the release of cash assistance and fuel subsidies, Kiko sought to unlock current appropriations from various government programs to ensure that those affected would receive ample support.
But the lawmaker also underscored the need for long-term solutions—strengthening local food production, diversifying import sources, stabilizing prices, building infrastructure, reducing dependency on imported fertilizers, building fuel reserves, and utilizing renewable energy sources—to make the country’s food systems resilient against disruptions in the global supply chain
“We cannot continue being externally reliant when it comes to our food supply. The risk of a food shock affects not only the agriculture and fisheries sectors, but all Filipinos. The ongoing conflict, as well as many others before it, should be an eye-opener,” he said.
A voice for the voiceless
Kiko also led the Senate hearing on protecting the 15-kilometer municipal waters for small-scale fishermen after a Supreme Court decision allowed commercial fishing vessels in waters previously exclusive to rural and community fishers.
This was in response to numerous complaints from fishermen about their declining incomes after large-scale fishing vessels were allowed to share their traditional fishing grounds.
“Hindi makatarungan,” the senator said. “Kung sino pa yung mahirap lalong humihirap sa halip na bigyan ng proteksyon.”
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, as of February 2026, marine municipal fisheries steadily declined from 879,961.58 metric tons in 2023 to 802,860.03 metric tons in 2024 to only 749,366.40 metric tons in 2025.
Comparatively, commercial fisheries went up from 822,427.47 metric tons in 2023 to 868,324.25 metric tons in 2024 to 849,498.89 metric tons in 2025.
The February 2026 hearing was not the first time the lawmaker had addressed the issue, having expressed his full support for reinstating preferential access for small-scale fishermen in the 15-kilometer municipal water zone during the March 2025 campaign period.
As with the promises made on the campaign trail, Kiko’s investigation into the municipal water zone issue is a testament to the values he holds dear as a father, husband, son, brother, and public servant.
“Hindi naman po tayo nangako (lang) sa kampanya. Talagang pinursigi natin dahil naniniwala tayo walang kulay ang gutom, walang kulay ang food security at ang panungahing dahilan para mapalakas natin ang food security, ang pangunahing prayoridad—palakasin natin ang ating mga magsasaka at ang ating mga mangingisda,” he said in November.
Work in progress
When Kiko decided to return to public service amid the political maelstrom and despite being the “valedictorian of fake news,” having been targeted by disinformation and online cruelty, he had one goal in mind: to live behind a country every Filipino would be proud to call home.
And so, despite what the surveys for the 2025 polls showed, he braved on, anchoring his campaign on a message of equality and social justice. His hard-fought, come-from-behind win further fueled the fire of change that propelled him through several leadership shifts in the Senate, including a few weeks without the agriculture panel’s committee chairmanship.
But for Kiko, these are merely hiccups, bumps in the road that prove the need to fight for the ordinary Filipinos—those living below the poverty line, those who fight fair every day for a chance to better their children’s lives, those who take to the streets to demand justice and accountability, and to the generations to come who will, he said, one day look back and ask what was done during the most consequential time in the nation’s history.
“The work continues. Tuloy ang trabaho dahil hindi nakakapaghintay ang kalam ng sikmura, ang mga mangmang na isip, at ang mga naghihikahos sa pag-asa at sa pangarap,” he said.
The senator, a former student leader and activist, knows too well that political debates are mere distractions, and that the real battles are fought in farmlands, in coastal communities, in hospitals and schools; they’re not fought for politicians, but they’re fought for the poor, the sick, the hopeless, the frustrated everyday Filipino who, despite having been deceived for decades, continue to dream for their families.
“In the end, history will judge all of us. Lahat tayo huhusgahan ng kasaysayan. Ang tanong: Noong panahon na kinakailangang tumaya at kumilos, ano ang ginagawa natin?,” he once asked.
“Sana ang sagot natin lahat: Noong panahon na yun, tumindig kami. Tumaya kami. Naging matapang kami para doon sa mga natatakot. Nagsalita kami para doon sa mga walang boses. Tumaya kami,” he added.
For every Filipino, Kiko championing agricultural reforms is a lifeline. His legislative work and committee inquiries embody the promise made to them. The senator himself doesn’t shy away from delivering on those promises, making it his lifelong mission to earn the votes cast for him and the hope pinned on him.
His story, after all, always begins and ends with the people.