Business group warns DA of lawsuits
Credit to Author: EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ| Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2019 16:18:12 +0000
THE Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (Pcafi) has warned the Department of Agriculture (DA) of possible lawsuits for refusing to enforce the special safeguard duty (SSG) on imported rice was that meant to protect the local rice industry against a surge of imports.
Pcafi President Danilo Fausto said granting farmers a one-time cash dole out of P3 billion instead of implementing SSG on rice imports is tantamount to “violating the law” itself that “may subject government authorities to [court] suits,” referring to Section 10 of Republic Act 11203, or the “Rice Tariffication law.” It states that, “in order to protect the Philippine rice industry from extreme price fluctuations, a special safeguard duty on rice shall be imposed.”
Acting Agriculture Secretary William Dar announced last Friday that the government decided to settle for a cash assistance program to save rice farmers from the very low prices of their palay (unmilled rice).
He also said the country’s economic managers ruled that imposing SSG duty on imported rice may have “inflationary” effect.
Pcafi Director Elias Jose Inciong believes otherwise.
“The government really looks down on farmers. It is in bad faith to even argue that safeguards are inflationary because they can suspend the SSG anytime. That claim has no credence. They’re in bad faith for refusing to implement the law,” said Inciong.
He explained that imposing the SSG would not cause prices in the domestic market to soar unreasonably, because the 350,000-metric ton minimum access volume the Philippines imported is not covered by SSG duties.
The SSG is a flexible mechanism applied on a shipment basis if a price trigger is utilized, Inciong said.
Once a shipment hits below trigger price, an SSG can immediately be applied, and if international rice prices soar and local production is not enough, the government can suspend the application of the SSG, he added.