Rice tariffication IRR signed Tuesday afternoon —NFA Council member

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Rice Tariffication Law are set to be approved by Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Food Authority (NFA) Council.

"Hindi ko pa nakikita lahat nung draft, kaya lang ia-approve siya ngayon hapon sa meeting ng council," Edwin Paraluman, a member of the NFA Council, said in an interview on News to Go.

The Department of Finance (DOF) earlier said the Rice Tariffication Law will take effect March 5.

According to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), under the draft IRR of the new law, the NFA's function will be reduced to ensuring the sufficient supply of buffer stocks of rice in the Philippines.

"May ginawa nang consultation all throughout the country, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, at 'yung draft nasa NEDA pa," said Paraluman.

Under its current mandate, NFA regulates the rice sector, and is the only agency allowed to import rice shipments into the country. However, this will be changed by the Rice Tariffication Law.

The Rice Tariffication Law also allows the unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35-percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.

The law earmarks P10 billion for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), 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.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier blamed the weak performance of the agriculture sector in 2018 as one of the factors why the Philippines fell behind its economic growth target of 6.5 to 6.9 percent in 2018. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/KBK, GMA News