Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez yesterday urged government agencies and the private sector to adopt a whole-of-nation approach in complying with President Marcos Jr.’s instructions to make available lower price of rice to the public as soon as possible.
He made the appeal in a meeting which he hosted for government agencies — the Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry and Bureau of Customs at the Makati Golf and Country Club, Makati City.
Representatives of SM supermarkets and Puregold stores, which are among the biggest retailers of rice and other basic goods in the country, also attended the meeting.
“The President is doing everything in his power to bring down the price of rice and make them available to millions of Filipinos in all parts of the country. It is now our obligation to work together and adopt a whole-of-nation approach to make this possible,” Romualdez said.
While P29-per-kilo rice is already available in the Kadiwa stores in all regions, the reach of these stores is still very limited and their stocks limited, the Speaker lamented.
“What we envision is not only to make affordable rice available in Kadiwa centers, but make quality affordable rice to the general public. In all markets, in all parts of the country, all the time,” he said.
With help from Congress, the administration is using all the powers in its arsenal to bring down not only the price of rice but also of other basic food items and agricultural products, Romualdez said.
“The reduction in tariff for rice is just one of the approaches. The expansion of Kadiwa stores is another. We are hopeful that the Senate will approve their version of the amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law which the House of Representatives passed last month,” he said.
He allayed the fears of farmers’ group that the reduction of rice tariff would flood the Philippine market with imported rice at the expense of locally-produced rice.
“There is nothing to fear about massive importation. Our priority is still locally-produced rice. We only resort to importation only to offset our shortfall in rice production,” he said.
“We are only reducing tariffs to absorb price shocks in the world market and free-fall in foreign exchange. This is just stop-gap measure and our goal is still rice sufficiency and affordability,” he added.
He assured the farmers that the subsidies to rice production would continue even with losses in revenues as a result of the reduced tariff in rice.
“Just from January to May this year alone, the Bureau of Customs had already collected P21.6 billion earmarked for subsidy to rice farmers. Government has enough resources to continue the subsidies, and Congress is ready to provide more funds if still needed,” he said.
Meanewhile, Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga assured that the reduced duties on imported rice would not adversely affect government support to rice farmers.
“Even at the higher allocation of P15 billion for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund under the House version of the revised RTL, we are already assured it will be funded for next year,” said Enverga who chairs the House committee on agriculture.
The current RCEF, also known as the Rice Fund, sets aside P10 billion a year from tariff collection from rice imports to fund farm mechanization, provision of better seeds and the training on new farming technologies.
The RCEF was supposed to end this year but lawmakers have sought to extend the rice fund until 2030.
“We will make sure that our rice farmers won’t be short changed in this government effort to bring down the cost of rice for the benefit of millions of Filipino consumers. So even if tariff collection falls short for RCEF allocation, the government will provide funds to fill whatever deficiency to ensure sufficient financing for the Rice Fund,” Enverga said.
The tariff reduction is expected to be implemented within the third quarter.
Data from the Bureau of Customs showed that tariff collection on rice import in the first five months of 2024 already reached P21 billion, more than enough to cover the proposed higher rice fund allocation.