A bill that will allow the unimpeded importation of rice is awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature to become law, according to the Senate.
That bill would amend the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 and replace the quantitative restriction on rice imports.
The Senate said it transmitted to the Office of the President on Tuesday the harmonized version of Senate Bill 1998 and House Bill 7735, an “Act Replacing the Quantitative Import Restrictions on Rice with Tariffs, Lifting the Quantitative Export Restrictions.”
The measure, which was ratified by both Houses of Congress in November last year, will become law if the President fails to act on it after 30 days.
Duterte’s economic managers have identified rice tariffication as one of the means of addressing soaring inflation.
READ: Neda: Rice tariffication to stabilize inflation
The measure would create the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or RCEF as a special rice safeguard duty to protect the rice industry from sudden or extreme price fluctuations.
“One of the key features of the bill is the creation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which shall consist of an initial appropriation of P10 billion a year until all duties collected from the importation of rice can replace it,” said Senator Cynthia Villar, the sponsor and principal author of the bill.
READ: Support for farmers in rice tariffication is assured—Villar
The Senate agreed on setting the RCEF at a minimum of P10 billion a year for six years, and tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion will be appropriated by Congress based on a menu of programs in the rice tariffication law.
The fund will be used to provide different forms of assistance to rice farmers, such as the development of inbred seeds and rice farm equipment and skills enhancement.
Villar said rice is the only agricultural commodity in the country that has quantitative restriction or QR, limiting the inflow of imported rice in the country.
The bill would remove all unnecessary government intervention in the rice market as recently announced by Duterte, Villar said.