Philippines won't import rice during harvest season, says Palace

The Philippines will not import rice during the harvest season, Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was responding to concern of rice producers and senators that President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order (EO) 135 reducing tariff rates for imported rice will put local rice producers at a disadvantage amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

EO 135 reduced tariff rates from 40% to 50% to 35% for a year.

"Paunawa po sa mga producers, pero hindi po tayo mag-aangkat sa panahon ng harvest," Roque said in a Palace briefing.

(We would like to inform them that we will not import rice during harvest season.)

"Hihintayin na muna natin na matapos ang harvest nang sa ganoon ay hindi maapektuhan ang presyo ng bentahan ng mga magsasaka sa merkado," he added.

(We will wait for harvest season to be over before importing so the imported rice will not affect the market prices.)

Roque then stressed that reduced tariff rates for imported rice is only to secure the country's supply of its staple food ahead of the rainy season.

"Kahit may mataas tayong ani ng bigas ngayon, may shortfall pa rin na 10%. Ang iniiwasan ay maapektuhan ang ating rice security kaya binaba natin nang bahagya, from 50% to 35%," Roque pointed out.

(Even if we have a high rice yield for the moment, the shortfall is still at 10 percent. We just want to avoid the situation where our rice security will be threatened, that is why we reduced the tariff rates.)

"Uulitin ko lang po ‘no, unang-una, wala po tayong volume na ini-specify. Ibig sabihin, kakaunti lang po iyan na aangkat using minimally lower tariff from 50 to 35 dahil ang kinakailangan lang naman nating angkatin ay iyong kulang sa ating supply na 10% at hindi nga po natin ii-import iyan sa panahon ng anihan dito sa Pilipinas para po hindi makaapekto sa market price ng bigas, ng palay sa panahon ng harvest," Roque added.

(I repeat, we did not specify the volume of imported rice that will come in. That means we will import in small amounts because we only need to fill in the 10% shortage in our supply and we will not do the importation when it is harvest season so as not to affect prevailing market prices during this season.)

Roque said the government did not want to be in the same situation last year when it deferred importing rice from Vietnam and when the time came that importing became urgent, it was already difficult to import since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted border and export restrictions worldwide.

"Eventually, naka-import din po tayo pero ang iniiwasan lang po iyong maapektuhan iyong ating rice security," Roque said.

(We were able to import eventually but we just want to ensure that our rice supply is secured.)—LDF, GMA News