Do your job, stop scaring consumers on impact of rice tariffication bill —Pangilinan to DA chief

Senator Francis Pangilinan said the rice tariffication bill, when it becomes law, should not be used as an excuse to alarm the consumers about available and affordable rice.

Instead, Department of Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol should do his job in ensuring that Filipino farmers are equipped and able to produce rice that can be sold at competitive price.

Pangilinan issued the statement a day after Pinol declared that the government will stop selling the P27 per kilo NFA rice starting March 2019 if rice tariffication pushes through.

The agriculture chief said if NFA rice will be sold, it will be priced at P35 per kilo and up.

Instead of causing alarm, Pangilinan said Piñol should act on his mandate as Agriculture secretary to make rice farmers more productive and competitive through cheaper farm inputs and lower rice wastage.

“He should ensure bigger incomes for local rice farmers,” Pangilinan, a member of the Senate committee on agriculture and former presidential adviser on agroculture and food, said.

He added the Agriculture chief should be more vigilant and should be able to use his authority under the Price Act to ensure that affordable rice is available to the public.

“Under this law, he has the power to ensure no overpricing, hoarding, profiteering, delay of importation, and other forms of price manipulation happen with respect to our country's staple,” he said.

“The Agriculture Secretary should work on ensuring that there is sufficient land for agriculture, especially rice,” he added.

For his part, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III agreed with Piñol that the NFA would no longer need to sell low-priced rice, which was  the objective of the law.

“Yes, that is the objective of the law. To allow competitors for NFA. Because NFA has gotten too complacent, to put it mildly, given its monopoly or power to import rice. Naka idlip ang NFA kaya gumawa ang Kongreso ng radikal na hakbang para magising sa katotohanan ang NFA,” he said.

"Under the bill, NFA will concentrate on keeping buffer stock of rice. The idea is to have low priced rice in the market through competition. Low priced rice doesn't have to be NFA imported,” Pimentel added.

Senator Francis Escudero said the provisions on safeguard and assistance to farmers should be given equal importance.

“Prices will go down but we also have to give safeguards and support to our farmers.

"It’s a balancing act because prices have to be low for consumers but, at the same time, we should help our farmers make a living,” he said.

The Rice Tariffication Bill, certified as urgent, is set to be signed by the President. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/economy/678759/palace-rice-tariffication-bill-up-for-duterte-s-signature/story/?just_in

The bill aims to lift quantitative restrictions on rice and allow private traders to import the commodity from countries of their choice.

Under the bill, the private sector will be allowed to import rice as long as they have secured a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.

It will earmark P10 billion for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement fund, P5 billion. —LDF, GMA News