President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday has signed into law the Rice Tariffication Bill and a measure amending the Fair Election Act to lower the cost of political advertisements.
READ: Rice tariffication a signature away from enactment
“Tariff bill signed,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
The measure seeks to liberalize rice importation by replacing quantitative import restrictions with tariffs.
Duterte’s economic managers have identified rice tariffication as one of the means of addressing soaring inflation.
The measure would create the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or RCEF with an annual funding of P10 billion as a special rice safeguard duty to protect the rice industry from sudden or extreme price fluctuations.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III confirmed that the President has signed into law a bill that gives additional discounts to political advertisements on television and radio.
Candidates will now enjoy a 50 percent discount when they place political ads on television networks, up from the current 30 percent.
On radio, political ads will have a 40 percent discount, up from the current 20 percent. The discount for print, on the other hand, was retained at 10 percent.
