Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate agriculture and food committee, on Friday debunked Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol’s claim that the NFA will no longer sell cheap rice to the public since it can no longer import rice under the new law.
She said that President Rodrigo Duterte himself had said that even with rice tariffication and liberalization of the rice industry, the NFA shall continue to provide the public particularly the less fortunate with rice that is affordable and safe.
“Once the law is passed, the NFA will be directed to buy palay from our local farmers. Together with Department of Agriculture, it will focus on developing cost- efficient system that will help reduce the production cost of locally-produced rice and stabilize rice prices,” said Villar.
In addition, she said the rice subsidy of the DSWD amounting to P28 billion should be bought from the local farmers.
Villar said quantitative restriction on importation of rice by the Philippines allowed by the World Trade Organization expired on June 30, 2017.
The Philippines has to liberalize the importation of rice so the Philippine Congress passed the law on Rice Tarification to protect the Filipino farmers from imported rice.
The tariff will be pegged at 35% on rice imports from Asean countries as per agreement and 50% from the rest of the world.
The proceeds from the tariff will be given to the farmers in the amount of P10 billion a year for the next six years to make the farmers competitive by mechanization (P5-b), better seed production (P3-b) cheaper credit from through ATI, Philmech, Philrice and TESDA (P1b).
Earlier, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan hit Pinol for being an alarmist. Pangilinan said that the rice tariffication bill, when it becomes a law, should not be used as an excuse to alarm the consuming public about available and affordable rice.
Instead of causing alarm, he recommended to the Agriculture Secretary to fulfill his mandate as Agriculture Secretary to make rice farmers more productive and competitive through cheaper farm inputs and lower rice wastage and ensure bigger incomes for local rice farmers and to be more vigilant and use his power and authority under the Price Act to ensure that affordable rice is available to the public so that rice farmers’ incomes do not go any lower and that revenues from their harvest are not compromised by traders and retailers.
Pangilinan said that under the bill, the oensure no overpricing, hoarding, profiteering, delay of importation, and other forms of price manipulation happen with respect to the country's staple.
The DA Secretary shoud also convince the President and the economic team to suspend the increase in excise tax on fuel due to TRAIN Law as these factors in the transport of rice and other food products like fish (the catch and distribution of which is fuel intensive) and he should likewise work on ensuring that there is sufficient land for agriculture, especially rice.
Meanwhile. Sen. Koko Pimentel sajd the objective of the law on rice tarificafion s to remove the low-priced NFA rice in the market.
He said this would allow "competitors" for NFA because it has gotten too "complacent" in its monopoly power to import rice.
“NFA fell asleep so Congress made a radical move to awaken it about the truth,” he said.
Under the bill, he said the NFA will concentrate on keeping buffer stock of rice.
He said the idea is to have low-priced rice in the market thru competition, adding that low-priced rice doesn't have to be NFA imported.
Senator Chiz Escudero, for his part, said the provisions on the safeguard and assistance to farmers should be given equal import since rice, as a commodity, is always a balancing act.
“Prices will go down but we also have to give safeguards and support to our farmers,” he said.
