By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas & Cai U. Ordinario
THE government could face lawsuits if it would rush the implementation of the rice liberalization law sans its implementing rules and regulations (IRR), warned officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the government will not be able to issue the IRR of Republic Act 11203 by March as it would still be subjected to consultations. Piñol said implementing the new law without the IRR will violate RA 11203 and the government could be slapped with lawsuits.
Under Section 17 of RA 11203, agencies including the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), DA and the Department of Budget and Management, after consulting affected industry stakeholders must promulgate the IRR “to effectively implement the provisions” of the law.
However, some of the country’s economic managers had announced earlier that the law will take effect on March 5, or 15 days after its publication, even without the IRR.
“We cannot violate the law. We cannot allow the entry of imports [by March 5] if the IRR is not yet finished,” Piñol told reporters in a news briefing on Thursday.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra told the BusinessMirror that the law could be already be effective by March 5 but its full implementation is deferred sans the IRR.
“The law is in effect after approval and due publication but may not be implemented without the necessary implementing rules and regulations,” Guevarra said.
Consultations
In a separate interview, Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo R. Serrano told the BusinessMirror that allowing stakeholders to voice out their concerns over the IRR will remove the “motivation” to challenge the law in the courts.
“It’s hard to rush the IRR if you will not consult the stakeholders. You need [to do] legal scrubbing,” Serrano said in an interview.
“There is a provision in the law that there would be 45 days [to craft the IRR] so the stakeholders are expecting to be provided with that time period. This would remove the motivation to challenge [the law] in the court. So let’s not do it with undue haste,” he added.
Among the issues that should be clarified and threshed out in crafting the IRR would be the import rules that traders and private entities would follow under the new rice trade regime, Serrano said.
Piñol disclosed that the DA will run a series of nationwide public consultations with rice farmers from February 26 until March 1. Consultations will be held in Northern Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Batangas, Davao City and Iloilo City. He said the DA’s policy and planning office will collate and consolidate all the results of the consultations into one report. The report will be submitted and presented to the NFA Council on March 5, when the Neda is also expected to present the revised draft of the IRR.
Neda Assistant Secretary for Regional Development Mercedita Sombilla told the BusinessMirror that the agency is currently analyzing the safeguard measures that the government will implement.
“The reason we’re hesitant to get it [draft IRR] out first, there are still some issues. For example, the transition period of NFA, some want it faster; [others] don’t want it as fast as being recommended. There are also safeguard measures that we need to put in place in case of extreme eventualities so there’s a lot to be discussed,” Sombilla said.
“It’s premature to let it out without us analyzing and putting in the measures that are necessary to control situations,” she added.
Self-sufficiency goal
Due to the expected influx of rice imports, the DA said it will no longer pursue its 100-percent rice self-sufficiency target. Piñol argued that the increase in imported rice will “depress” farm-gate prices and discourage farmers from planting the staple.
“It would be foolish for us to still target the 100-percent [self-sufficiency rate]. It will be foolish to still encourage our farmers to reach that when we know that cheap imported rice will be coming in,” he said.
“We might just be contented with where we are right now, which is at 93 percent. The inflow of imported rice may affect the prices in the market and further dampen the buying price of palay,” he added.
The DA is targeting to produce 20 million metric tons this year, nearly 5 percent higher than the output of 19.06 MMT recorded in 2018.