MANILA – Business groups want President Rodrigo Duterte to sign the Rice Tariffication Law, saying this would ensure food security in the country.
In a statement released by various business groups through the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), noted the proposed measure in now pending the President’s approval.
“The Bill is now with Malacañang and we urge the President to sign it into law,” the statement read.
The statement was signed by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham), the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF).
Other signatories are the Judicial Reform Initiative (JRI), the Makati Business Club (MBC), the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA), and the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI).
The proposed law aims to lift quantitative restrictions on rice and allow private traders to import the commodity from countries of their choice 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 aims to earmark P10 billion for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement fund, P5 billion of which will be allotted to farm mechanization and P3 billion to rice seedlings. The fund intends to ensure that rice imports won’t drown out the agriculture sector and rob farmers of their livelihood.
“We, the undersigned business and professional organizations, hereby strongly support ongoing efforts and measures of the administration to liberalize the economy and thereby unleash its full potential to ensure sustainable, robust and inclusive economic growth, while ensuring better quality of life for our people through affordable food,” the statement read. (GMA News)
