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Duterte says PHL needs to import rice as production not enough


After twice announcing that he was suspending the importation of rice because of the ongoing harvest by local farmers, President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday confirmed what officials had been saying all along

“We have to import because the producer cannot fill up the requirements. It’s lacking,” Duterte said in a speech in Maasim, Sarangani Province.

The Department of Agriculture has said that domestic palay production is projected to reach 18.48 million metric tons by the end of 2019. This translates to 12.09 million metric tons of milled rice.

This amount is only 85% of the 14.24 million metric tons that the country needs per year.

The rest of the country’s requirements will be addressed through importation.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Thursday that import volume was projected at 3.72 million metric tons.

Duterte last Friday and on Tuesday night announced that he was ordering the suspension of rice importation during the harvest season.

“In the months of harvest, bilhin na lang ninyo. ‘Wag kayong masyadong mag-import. Do not allow import. The government will not import. I-hold muna hanggang mabili ‘yong kanila," Duterte told GMA News in an exclusive interview last Friday.

At the Tuesday night presser when he was asked if he was ordering the Department of Agriculture to stop the importation of rice, Duterte said, "Yes. Because it is harvest time."

In Sarangani, Duterte claimed to have been misunderstood on his previous order to suspend rice importation.

“They can plant and harvest but it is always a contingent one in the Philippines. Now to say that you stop importation just because they’re going to produce the projected number, that would be a folly because I said we are the window to the Pacific island,” Duterte said.

“And you know there’s never a way of knowing how much typhoon would ravage our plant including the rice land and whether there would be a good harvest or not. So delikado ‘yan sabihin mo na, well I have been greatly misunderstood.”

He added: "I have always been misunderstood. My presidency was a misunderstood venture."

Local rice farmers have lamented the nosedive in the prices of palay, blaming the Rice Tariffication Law and the importation of the staple grains.

An advocacy group, Bantay Bigas, dared Duterte to back up his words by releasing an executive order on the suspension of rice importation.

Duterte, according to presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, changed his mind on suspending rice importation after a meeting with Dar and other top officials on Wednesday.

Asked if Duterte changed his mind after Wednesday’s meeting, Panelo told reporters: “Parang ganoon nga, baka nakita niya na hindi pa kailangan.”

“Siguro naipaliwanag ni Secretary Dar kung ano ang mas magandang gawin,” Panelo said on Friday.

Dar on Thursday said the rice importation would continue although the government will enforce stricter requirements.

The President also directed the National Food Authority to increase the emergency buffer stock from 15 to 30 days and to speed up inventory turnover by buying more palay and selling more regular milled rice.

The unconditional cash transfer to farmers affected by low palay prices will also be extended to two years, with P3 billion allotted per year.

“I would understand that there’s a prevailing market value for all. It’s always the law of supply and demand,” Duterte said.

“So they must have something there that is a reasonable pricing and for the consumers which is us to buy all. Bilihin talaga natin lahat ‘yung kanila. Before we venture into this rice tariffication imports.”

Duterte added his duty was "not to the businessmen.”

“I have nothing to do with them. I don’t care what happens to them. I care about the people and I said, ‘Buy this because you are buying social unrest,’” Duterte said.

“Bilihin mo na lang ‘yung social unrest that would accompany if there is really something of their products, their produce, their sweat. Hindi mo mabayaran at they are in perpetual agony of debt.”

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III had said that the government was not inclined to repeal, revise or suspend the Rice Tariffication Law, which allows unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35-percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.

Safety nets were included in the law, which Duterte signed in February, including a comprehensive assistance program for farmers worth P10 billion a year for the next six years. —NB/LDF, GMA News

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