A FARMERS’ group urged Sen. Cynthia A. Villar to focus on the reported undervaluation of rice imports, which caused the decline in farm-gate prices and the closure of some mills.
Federation of Free Farmers Inc. (FFF) said Villar, who will again chair the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food in the 18th Congress, should not shrug off the issue of undervaluation due to its adverse impact on local farmers.
FFF made the statement after Villar was quoted in news reports saying that the issue of undervaluation of rice shipments is not her problem but that of the Bureau of Customs.
“We are very disappointed with Senator Villar’s reaction of washing her hands off the problem and passing the buck to other people,” FFF National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said in a recent statement.
“She was the main author of the rice tariffication law, so she should bear some responsibility for the flood of rice imports that is now wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of small rice farmers,” Montemayor added.
He said Villar should be “more proactive in addressing the urgent problems besetting the rice sector at the moment” since she chairs the Committee on Agriculture and Food.
The BOC earlier disclosed that it will look into rice imports that arrived in the country from January to June, to determine if the shipments were undervalued.
BOC Assistant Commissioner for the Post Clearance Audit Group Vincent Philip C. Maronilla told the BusinessMirror in an earlier interview that the values declared by traders were inconsistent.
Maronilla made the announcement after the BusinessMirror reported on July 9 that the FFF suspected the undervaluation of rice shipments by importers and traders.
Citing its computations, FFF earlier said rice importers could have shortchanged the government by up to P5 billion by misdeclaring the value of their shipments.
He said rice shipments from March 5 to June 30, which are covered by the rice trade liberalization law, reached 966,690 metric tons. Tariffs assessed on 966,690 MT of rice amounted to around P4 billion to P4.5 billion, according to Maronilla.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes