A party-list lawmaker on Thursday lauded the approval of the proposed amendments to Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) by the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.
Rep. Wilbert T. Lee of party-list AGRI, however, reiterated the need to purge corrupt officials in the National Food Authority (NFA) to lower the price of rice.
The lawmaker earlier filed House Resolution 1636 to review and assess the impact of RTL.
“Our main goal is to restore the NFA’s mandate to buy rice from local farmers at a price that ensures their income, and sell it in the market at a price that is not heavy on the consumers’ pockets,” Lee said.
“This will also avoid the exploitative middlemen and traders, who burden the farmers and add a large amount to the price of rice,” he added.
According to the Bicolano solon, restoring the NFA power to sell cheaper rice in the market would significantly drive down the retail prices of the staple food to as low as P37 per kilo.
As to the increasing budget allocation for farm machinery and equipment, Lee reiterated this would greatly help more farmers and fisherfolk if the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) commit further in simplifying and streamlining its requirements.
The RTL was signed into law in 2019 supposedly to reduce the price of rice and help farmers who would be hurt by the removal of quantitative restrictions – or a ceiling on the volume – on imported rice. The quantitative restrictions were replaced by tariffs of 35 percent to 40 percent.
