AGRICULTURAL leaders are calling on the Supreme Court to immediately restore the 35-percent most favored nation (MFN) tariff on rice, arguing that a return to previous rates is the only way to save Filipino farmers from an “existential” crisis.
In a petition for certiorari and prohibition, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and the Magsasaka party-list urged the High Court to strike down Executive Order (EO) 105, which maintains a reduced 15-percent rate.
The petitioners asserted that the industry has already been pushed to the brink by a previous tariff cut of 15 percent under EO 62, resulting in a staggering P20-billion loss in gross income for rice farmers during the first half of 2025 alone.
The call for the restoration of the 35-percent tariff came as farmers face a “ruinous” economic environment.
While Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed farmgate prices at P16.40 per kilo in July 2025, the petition highlighted grim field reports of prices plummeting to as low as P8.00 per kilo which is less than half the cost of production.
The farmers noted that the financial bleeding has translated to an average loss of P9,382 per hectare for every cropping season, driving many into a cycle of deep indebtedness and despair.
The petitioners, led by Leonardo Montemayor and Argel Joseph Cabatbat, contended that EO 105 is “unconstitutional.”
They specifically target a new “automatic” adjustment mechanism that allows tariff changes without public hearings, calling it an “undue delegation of power” that silences the very farmers the government is supposed to protect.
The groups plan to revert the tariff regime to its “last peaceable and uncontested” state of 35-percent rate, warning that without judicial intervention, the domestic rice sector may collapse entirely before the legal merits of the case are even decided.
