MANILA – Senate approved on third and final reading a measure that will allow an unimpeded importation of rice into the Philippines.
Voting 14-0-0 on Wednesday night, senators passed Senate Bill 1998A, which amends the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 by replacing the quantitative restriction on rice imports.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, sponsor and principal author, said the bill seeks to replace the current system of imposing quantitative import restrictions on rice with tariffs.
Rice imports from Association of Southeast Asian Nations members would be charged a tariff of at least 35 percent while those from non-ASEAN countries, 50 percent, the bill stated.
President Rodrigo Duterte certified the measure as urgent last month.
Removing all “unnecessary intervention” from the government in the rice market, the measure is expected to alleviate the impact of the nine-year-high inflation and address the country’s rice shortage, said Villar.
Furthermore, a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund shall be created to protect the rice industry from sudden or extreme price fluctuations, the bill stated. The Senate set the fund at a minimum of P10 billion annually for six years.
The fund seeks to provide various forms of assistance to rice farmers, such as development of inbred rice seeds, rice farm equipment, and skills enhancement.
In certifying the bill as urgent in October, Duterte said there was a need “to address the urgent need to improve the availability of rice in the country, prevent artificial rice shortage, reduce the prices of rice in the market, and curtail the prevalence of corruption and cartel domination in the rice industry.”
The House of Representatives approved a counterpart measure in August. A bicameral conference committee will be convened to thresh out the differences between the two versions of the bill./PN
