Rice Tariffication law must be amended to stop importation —DA

The Department of Agriculture on Monday said it cannot just stop rice importation under the Rice Tariffication Law without an amendment to the law or a formal directive from the President.

President Duterte told GMA News on Friday that the government will stop importing rice during the harvest season to help Filipino farmers affected by falling farm gate prices.

“We will await the official directive from the palace,” Agriculture spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Noel Reyes told GMA News.

“‘Yung batas ay batas. Kung kailangang i-revise, that has to be reviewed by both houses of Congress,” Reyes noted.

Maybe the President meant reducing rice imports during the harvest season, which Reyes said is already happening.

Last week, 80,000 metric tons of imported rice entered the country, down from 200,000 metric tons two months ago.

Citing data coming from the Bureau of Customs, Reyes said that 3 million metric tons of rice have been imported so far this year.

“The market feels it na … na sobra na,” Reyes said.

At the World Rice Conference last week, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said that the government is not inclined to repeal, revise or suspend the Rice Tariffication Law.

Reyes said the Agriculture Department agrees.

“It’s too early. Wala pa ngang isang taon ‘yung RTL, di ba? A few months old pa lang. Parang isang sanggol na hindi pa lumalakad na gusto na natin, ‘Uy, hinto ka muna’,” he said.

For now, government is intervening to help farmers cope with significant drops in farm gate prices of palay.

The farm gate price of fresh palay is P12-13 per kilo, while dried palay is P16, according to recent data from the DA.

The National Food Authority’s buying price is at P16 per kilo for fresh palay and P19 for the dried version.

“We’re propping up the price of palay by encouraging NFA to do surgical procurement. Kung saan mababa, doon siya,” Reyes said.

Local government units have also started buying palay from local farmers.

Reyes said the top 30 rice-producing provinces have committed a total budget of P5 billion to buying palay.

The House of Representatives has approved a proposed bill to covert the P600 per month cash assistance to 4Ps beneficiaries into rice assistance. —VDS, GMA News