State and Philippine Society in the Time of the Pandemic 93 Php 34 billion in COVID-19 aid funds have yet to be released to the agriculture, labor, and tourism sectors (Domingo and Gulla 2020). Seven senators (including administration allies) and labor groups such as the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino–Partido Lakas ng Masa (BMP–PLM) coalition are calling for an audit of SAP and other generated funds to determine whether these were properly and honestly spent and were availed of by the sectors and social classes most in need of assistance and not the favored clients of local political elites (Tamayo 2020; BMP-PLM 2020). Institute measures to rescue the agricultural sector The government must institute emergency and medium-term measures to rescue the agricultural sector, primarily to alleviate the plight of small farmers and the rural poor and prevent the deterioration of their economic and livelihood conditions. Specifically, the government may take the following steps: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Reinstate subsidies for farmers by granting palay support prices, cheap credit, and incentives for organic and environmentally friendly farming; A moratorium on 2020–2021 debt service payments for loans of small farmers from rural banks and financial institutions like the Land Bank of the Philippines; Write off all pending amortization payments of agrarian reform beneficiaries and immediately grant unencumbered land titles to the same; accelerate the completion of the land transfer program under the agrarian reform law (i.e., CARPER); Boost local production in food and other agricultural products for the domestic market in order to limit imports and save foreign exchange; Prevent the conversion of agricultural lands for commercial and other non-agricultural use, strictly monitor land grabbing practices, and heavily penalize perpetrators; Encourage and support local markets (“tambakan”) for farm products at the barangay level in order to support small traders and sellers/vendors; Repeal the Rice Tariffication Law which has caused huge drops in farmgate prices and reduced farm incomes which have been a disaster for rice farmers; Improve rural infrastructure and farm-to-market roads; utilize local labor for these construction projects; and Involve farmers’ groups, other rural organizations, and civil society rural support groups in decision-making of agricultural policies.