THE RICE Tariffication Law will not be reviewed nor repealed anytime soon, the Departments of Finance and of Agriculture said on Wednesday.
Various stakeholders, particularly farmers, are clamoring for the law to be reviewed and repealed in light of its negative impact on rice prices.
“Give the law a chance to be implemented properly,” Agriculture secretary William Dar told reporters at the 11th World Rice Conference in Makati City.
“So after some time, if there will be some adjustments to make it much more effective, then that’s the period we shall revisit,” Dar noted.
“But the decision today is that within now and the near future, pagbigyan naman itong bagong batas na maganda ang pagka-implementa,” he said.
In a separate speech, Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez said, “There is no inclination to repeal, revise or suspend Rice Tariffication Law. We are confident that this is the best means to move our agriculture sector forward and foster competitiveness.
“We will never return to the old regime of unstable rice supplies, high retail prices, profiteering and low productivity,” Dominguez added.
The law “has brought down the price of our country’s staple food for more than a hundred million Filipinos. On average, today’s Filipino consumer already enjoys a reduction of around P8 per kilo,” the Finance chief noted.
This has benefitted many families, especially low income households that allot a fifth or 20 percent of their budget to rice, the Cabinet official noted.
In March to October, the government has collected P11.4 billion in tariffs from imported rice, more than the estimated P10 billion.
The excess funds, Dominguez said, will help farmers, crop insurance, titling of lands, and other financial requirements of the rice farming sector. (GMA News)
