Taxes from rice imports should be converted to 'ayuda' for farmers —Hontiveros, Pangilinan

Minority senators on Thursday called for the provision of direct assistance to rice farmers as prices of palay were reported to be dropping to as low as P12 per kilo amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the duties collected from the Rice Tariffication Law could be converted to cash aid for the farmers.

"Ngayong may krisis, siguraduhin nating ang nakolektang taripa mula sa importers ay napupunta bilang ayuda sa ating mga magsasaka para mabawi kung anuman ang kanilang lugi," Senator Risa Hontiveros said in a statement.

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, citing data as of July 2020, said the taxes collected under the Rice Tariffication Law has reached P10.728 billion.

He suggested that those in excess of the P10 billion needed to fund the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program (RCEP) could be used as a cash aid.

"We have an excess collection of P728 million as of July and this should directly benefit the farmers especially in these hard times. If the collection as of July 2020 was P10.728 billion, it is definitely bigger three months later," Pangilinan said in a separate statement.

A former presidential assistant on food and agricultural modernization of the previous administration, Pangilinan asked the economic cluster to make an updated public accounting of the taxes coming in from rice imports and find ways on how the excesses can be distributed to rice farmers.

Hontiveros added that the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law must be reviewed.

"Kailangang i-review ang Rice Tariffication Law para makita kung talaga bang nakakatulong ito sa ating mga magsasaka lalo pa’t maraming lumalabas na problema sa implementasyon ng batas na ito," she said.

The senators made the suggestion of direct cash assistance after reports that palay prices dipped to P12 per kilo have surfaced.

Earlier this week, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto also urged the Department of Agriculture to investigate the supposed grievance of rice farmers, stressing that such a price is "cheaper than the price of a face mask."

Citing official government data, the senator said the average farm gate price of a kilo of palay was pegged at P17.64 as of the first week of September but added that the said amount may not be reflective of the price tag on the ground.

The Rice Tariffication Law was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2019. It removed all quantitative restrictions on rice importation in the Philippines and imposed a 35-percent tariff for rice imports.

A few months later, in August 2019, the palay prices in the country plunged to P7 to P10 per kilo.—AOL, GMA News