Rice tariff law to ease poor’s burden—Arroyo
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 08:35:35 +0000
SPEAKER Gloria Macapagal Arroyo welcomed the signing into law of the rice tariffication bill, which seeks to ensure food security and ease inflation in the country.
“I am happy that President (Rodrigo) Duterte has signed into law the Rice Tariffication Act. It will further help in easing the inflation which has hit the poor the most,” Arroyo said on Sunday, two days after the measure was enacted.
Arroyo, one of the authors of the bill, had been actively pushing for its passage, since Duterte declared the measure as priority to improve the availability of rice in the country and reduce its market price.
The measure was certified as urgent in October. The House of Representatives and the Senate approved their versions of the bill in September and November 2017, respectively.
“Now we can focus on its proper implementation so that everyone can and should benefit from the law,” Arroyo said.
The new law does away with quantitative restrictions on imported rice and will instead impose a general tariff to lower its price. Farmers will also benefit from the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund available for six years to improve their competitiveness and protect the rice industry from sudden price fluctuations.
Some lawmakers and farmers’ groups, however, raised concerns on the newly signed measure.
For the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the rice tariffication law will directly affect 13.5 million palay farmers and their families, 17.5 million farm workers, and more than 10 million Filipinos dependent on National Food Authority (NFA) rice.
KMP chairman Danilo Ramos said the measure signified “the beginning of the end of the local rice industry,” as farmers were already heavily burdened by high prices due to the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao vowed to file a bill to repeal the rice tariffication law, which was “contradictory to the principles of the Philippine Constitution” for relying on supply from other countries, which “threaten national sovereignty with vulnerability.” GLEE JALEA
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