THE National Food Authority Council has approved a motion instructing the NFA to submit a restructuring plan within 30 days, from the initial proposal of 180 days, as the government will implement a tariffied regime for rice starting on March 3 to further slash rice prices and bring down living costs for Filipinos.
In a statement on Monday, the Department of Finance (DOF) said, “Our objective in liberalizing rice imports is to bring down the costs of the staple. Our price is 50 percent higher than the others, including Singapore, which does not produce rice. Will it take us 180 days to effect a reduction in the cost of living our the people?”
The NFA Council also approved, during its meeting on Monday at the DOF headquarters, the transfer of the NFA functions to the Department of Agriculture (DA) as provided for under the rice tariffication law effective on March 3.
Dominguez pointed out that the transfer of the Food Development Center from the NFA to the DA could also be done in a shorter time, rather than the initial proposal of 60 days.
It was also proposed during the meeting that the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) determine which funds can be freed up as a result of NFA’s restructuring to ensure that farmers receive the support they need while the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund mandated under the rice tariffication law is still in the process of being set up.
When asked if the implementation of the tariffied regime for rice signals the approval of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Act, Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said some parts of the law can be implemented even without an IRR.
“There are parts of the law that are clear and can be implemented earlier than the parts of the law that require an IRR to implement. So the heart of the reform, which tariffies rice importation with the least government intervention, will be implemented ASAP [as soon as possible] to bring down rice prices for more than 100 million Filipino rice consumers,” said Lambino, also the DOF’s spokesman, in a text message.
Dominguez presided over the meeting as endorsed by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, who was unavailable during the meeting. Piñol is the chairman of the NFA Council.
Also present at the meeting were Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo, Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon, Monetary Board Member Bruce Tolentino and representatives from the NFA, Neda, Land Bank of the Philippines, DA, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Social Welfare and Development.
According to the DOF, the meeting was called to immediately discuss the IRR of RA 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Act, following its signing into law by President Duterte on February 15.