Processing of rice imports to take maximum of 28 days

Rice importation is set to take a month — with the processing of permits to be shortened to a maximum of 28 days — under the Rice Liberalization Act, government officials said Monday.

In a press conference in Manila City, Finance Assistance Secretary Antonio "Tony" Joselito Lambino II said securing permits to import rice will only take a maximum of 28 days.

President Rodrigo Duterte in February signed into law the Rice Liberalization Act, which effectively removed the quantitative restrictions on rice, and imposed a 35-percent tariff on imports from the country's neighbors in Southeast Asia.

As of the April 28 draft guidelines of the Rice Liberalization Act, the milled rice importation process will take a maximum of 28 days, with several government agencies involved.

Securing permits from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) will take a maximum of 14 days — six days for registration, and another seven days for the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPSIC).

It will take six to seven working days to secure permits from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), six to seven days from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), three days from the registration with the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), and another eight days for the PITC import consolidation.

"Kung tutuusin, maybe all in all, three weeks, four weeks, nandiyan na 'yung bigas," Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

"As long as wala nang kinuhang NFA (National Food Authority) permit, it's really just the quality and then the actual procedure of importation, nandiyan na 'yung bigas in less than one month," he addeed.

Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo noted, however, that the actual process could be shortened given the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) of 2007.

"Binibigyan lang namin ng allowance para masigurado na maka-comply pa rin sila," she said.

"With ARTA Law, maximum of three days for simple applications, mami-minimize pa po itong 28 days na binigay natin," Castelo added. —KBK, GMA News