Senate to conduct inquiry on rice tariff law implementation

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate committee on agriculture and food is set to conduct an inquiry into the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, particularly the disbursement of funds meant for farmers.

The probe was prompted by a resolution filed by Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the agriculture committee that seeks to look into the implementation of Republic Act 11203 that lifted quantitative restrictions on rice imports and replaced it with tariffs, and created the P10- billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

“This (RCEF) is the protection measure we have in place for our local farmers in a tariffied regime we find ourselves in following the expiration of the agreement with the World Trade Organization. We believe in this law and for the sake of our farmers, we want it to succeed,” Villar, principal author of the law, said.

“The issues that have surfaced lately in the rice sector, particularly among the government agencies charged with the implementation of the RCEF law, are causes for apprehension on whether our rice sector and rice farmers are adequately made ready this early to face the regime of rice import liberalization,” she said, referring to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The Bureau of Customs earlier reported that it has so far collected P6.48 billion from rice imports since the law was implemented in March or an average of P1.4 billion monthly.

Villar said regardless of the amount of collection, the law mandates the allocation of P10 billion annually for the RCEF and there is no room for discretion in the fund’s disbursement.

The law allocates P5 billion annually to procure rice farm equipment through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech). Farm equipment such as tillers, tractors, seeders, threshers, rice planters, harvesters and irrigation pumps will be given as a grant-in-kind primarily to eligible rice farmer associations and registered rice cooperatives.

The law also allocates P3 billion to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) to develop, propagate and promote inbred seeds, which is projected to increase farmers’ yield by up to 50 percent.

Villar, however, found out that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released P5 billion last December for rice farmers but only P1 billion has been credited to the sector.

The remaining P4 billion is still a subject of debate between the National Economic and Development Authority and the DA, she said.

“It should be ensured that kinks like these in the fund release and distribution flow should be ironed out and removed in the implementation of the RCEF law,” the senator said.

She also lamented that PhilMech and PhilRice are reportedly not yet ready to come up with their respective guidelines in disbursing their respective shares of the RCEF.

Villar said the government agencies must act with urgency as tariff proceeds are coming in along with the imports so local farmers must be given all the assistance for them to become competitive.

The law imposes a 35 percent tariff on rice imports from member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 50 percent on those imported from non-ASEAN countries.