President Rodrigo Duterte will sign into law the rice tariffication bill for “the greater good,” Malacañang said on Thursday, adding that the Chief Executive will not heed the request of the rice industry stakeholders to veto the measure.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the country’s rice industry organizations paid a courtesy call with the President to address their concerns on Wednesday evening.
The President, however, defended the proposed measure, which was transmitted last month by Congress for his go signal, saying that the law will greatly benefit the public.
“Those he met last night were against it. But according to thePresident, the policy would be to the greater good, so he will do that. Despite the opposition, it seems he will push for it,” Panelo said.
“They want it vetoed but I don’t think the President will. That has been his position, to go ‘for the greater interest and for the greater good’,” he added.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, meanwhile, said that Duterte even asked the rice stakeholders to jot down their concerns in order for the Cabinet to consider their worries as they draft the implementing rules and regulations on the ratified bill.
“The President believes in giving what is best for the greater number of Filipinos. He believes in the principle of and benefits of having lesser government intervention and allowing the interplay between market forces while providing the needed safety nets to affected sectors,” Lopez told GMA News Online.
Asked when does the President plan to sign the ratified rice tarrification bill, Panelo said: “He didn’t say so, but I think it’s forthcoming.”
The bill aims to lift the quantitative restrictions on rice imports, allowing private traders to import grain from countries of their choice.
Under the bill, the private sector will be permitted to import rice.
They, however, have to secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff from neighbors in Southeast Asia for shipments.
In endorsing the bill, Duterte told Congress that the proposed measure for the country’s staple food would address the urgent need to improve the availability of rice in the country, prevent artificial rice shortages, reduce the prices of rice in the market, and curtail the prevalence of corruption and cartel domination in the rice industry.
However, once Duterte signed the measure into law, the National Food Authority (NFA) will stop selling government-subsidized grain.
Under the current process, the NFA is tasked to stabilize rice prices by buying grain from farmers and selling it at a cheaper cost compared to commercial rice from P27 to P32.
The proposed rice tariffication law, on the other hand, removes the NFA’s authority to import and distribute cheaper rice.
Earlier, party-list lawmaker Rep. Cecil Chavez warned that millions of rice farmers will be thrown into penury once the Rice Tariffication bill is signed and implemented.
Chavez, vice chairman of the House committee on agriculture and food, branded the bill “unrealistic, ill-advised, and should not be the anchor of the country’s rice supply stabilization program.”
Chavez said that “the promise of at least P10 billion yearly in support fund to rice farmers under the rice tariffication measure will not also work given the inefficiency of the institutions that will oversee the P10 billion fund.”
“There is also the temptation that the bureaucrats who will oversee the P10 billion fund will treat it as a generic government revenue which can be diverted to other concerns that are not related to helping and supporting the almost three million Filipino rice farmers,” said Chavez.
Chavez said that a permanent policy of rice importation is an “existential threat “to the country’s rice supply stabilization program, given the volatile nature of the global rice supply.
“Put simply, unlimited rice importation is a threat to the country’s national food security goals,” she said.
Chavez also expressed concern that the country’s rice farmers will cease to exist in a few years should the government stick to a policy of unlimited rice importation.
“Any minor tweak in the rice production in China and in the countries in Indo-China regions would send global supply into a tight, pricey market which would be beyond the capacity of the Philippines to buy,” Chavez said.
“That is the scenario I fear most, a short supply that would eviscerate the rice surplus and would send global rice prices sky high,” she added.
The lawmaker said that there is no substitute for adequate domestic rice production.
“Support for an intensified, inspired rice production program would be a win-win for the country’s farmers, the country’s food security goals and the country’s economy in general,” Chavez said.