Failed implementing rules and regulations signing delays effectivity of rice tariff law

MANILA, Philippines — The opening up of the local rice industry may be slightly delayed as the government has failed to sign the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) under the rice tariff regime.

During the special interagency National Food Authority Council meeting Tuesday afternoon, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol confirmed that the IRR has yet to be signed.

 “It has been finalized and endorsed by the NFA Council with amendments. The final version will go through legal scrubbing before we sign it,” Piñol said in a text message to The STAR.

Piñol, however, did not elaborate on the possible changes, but NFA officer-in-charge administrator Tomas Escarez said there were “no major” revisions.

“They are still looking at the changes that may be incorporated based on the consultations. They are still finalizing the draft, but these are just small items, Just more of polishing the statements,” Escarez told The STAR.

Escarez said the council has yet to come up with a new timeline as to when the IRR would be signed, but a referendum is already being eyed.

“Instead of having another council meeting, a resolution will just be made and if they are amenable to it, they can just sign. No need to convene the council,” Escarez added.

It was NEDA which collated all recommendations after DA conducted consultations in different clusters nationwide to ensure that concerns of stakeholders, especially farmers, are addressed.

One of the salient points raised by farmers is for NFA to be allowed to procure buffer stocks more than just 15 to 30 days, as originally stipulated in the law.

“Just so when prices really drop, they have somewhere to go to and NEDA has taken this into consideration. President Duterte earlier said he would like sufficient buffer stocking up to 60 days. So, I think it should be more than 30 days,” Piñol said.

And since it is now the Bureau of Plant Industry that will release import permits, the agri department is now looking at borrowing manpower from NFA.

“This will be an added task for BPI actually. And BPI does not have the budget for it. Their budget this year is only P876 million, lower than 2018’s P1.02 billion. We can probably ask for additional budget next year,” he said.

This year, the local rice industry is set to receive P22 billion, its biggest budget to date. This consists of the initial P5 billion released, P7 billion regular funding for the rice program, and the expected P10 billion under the tariff regime.

“Although there are calls from other industry stakeholders to extend and prolong the crafting of the IRR, I am against it. The longer we wait, the longer it will take for the budget to be released. One planting season lost for us,” Piñol said.