Duterte not about to exercise his veto against rice tariffication bill

President Rodrigo Duterte is signing into law the rice tariffication bill despite opposition from industry stakeholders, Malacañang said Thursday.

Duterte had a meeting with rice industry organizations in Malacañang on Wednesday, during which was asked to veto the bill, said presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.

The President, however, defended the proposed measure which was transmitted last month by Congress for his signature.

“They want it vetoed but I don’t think the President will,” Panelo said at a news conference. “Sabi ni Presidente sa kanila, ‘Pwedeng maapektuhan kayo, but ‘yung kabuuan ng mga Pilipino ang inaalala ko’.”

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, who was present during the meeting Wednesday, said the President asked the rice farmers and millers to put their concerns in writing “so we in Cabinet can consider as we draft the implementing rules and regulations on the ratified bill to be passed.”

“The President believes in giving what is best for the greater number of Filipinos. He believes in the principle of and benefits of having lesser government intervention and allowing the interplay between market forces, while providing the needed safety nets to affected sectors,” Lopez said in a separate message.

The bill aims to lift quantitative restrictions on rice and allow private traders to import the commodity from countries of their choice.

Under the bill, the private sector can import rice as long as they have secured a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff on shipments from Southeast Asian neighbors.

It provides the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement fund with P10 billion, of which P5 billion will be allotted to farm mechanization and P3 billion to seedlings. The fund intends to ensure that rice imports won’t drown out the agriculture sector and rob farmers of their livelihood.

In endorsing the bill, Duterte told Congress last year of the “urgent need to improve availability of rice in the country, prevent artificial rice shortage, reduce the prices of rice in the market and curtail the prevalence of corruption and cartel domination in the rice industry.”

“The policy of rice tariffication stays, with the provision of direct safety nets and productivity enhancement support to the rice industry and farmers, as stipulated in the bill,” Lopez said. —VDS, GMA News