The irony has not been lost on us, that in spite of the Philippines being of agricultural terrain, we import many of our basic agricultural needs, betraying perhaps decades of benign neglect mainly by government and private greed. The nation, one of the world's largest importers of rice, buys three million tons of rice from overseas every year. According to the United Nations trade data, we imported $451 million worth of sugar in 2021. And much of our garlic.

Dejaresco III, Z. P. (2023, January 10). Salt shortage leads to importation. Manila Bulletin, p. B-4.