Tariffication to start March 5, DoF clarifies
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:30:29 +0000
The newly-signed Rice Tariffication Act will take effect March 5 instead of the previously announced March 3, the Finance department clarified on Tuesday.
“It’s March 5. That would be 15 days after posting of the law on the Official Gazette,” Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito Lambino 2nd said in a text message after a Monday announcement that the shift from quantitative restrictions (QRs) would start March 3.
The law was published on February 18.
Lambino explained that in approving the implementation on Monday, National Food Authority Council members assumed that publication was done on February 15, the same day that President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11203 into law.
A 35-percent tariff will be implemented for rice bought from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) neighbors regardless of quantity while a higher 40-percent duty will be slapped on rice imports within the minimum access volume (MAV) of 350,000 metric tons (MT), going up to 180 percent for out-quota shipments sourced from non-Asean countries.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) were now being finalized but he also noted that “there are parts of the law that are clear upfront and can be implemented earlier than the parts of the law that require an IRR to implement.”
“So the heart of the reform, which tariffies rice importation with the least government intervention, will be implemented ASAP (as soon as possible) to bring down rice prices for more than 100 million Filipino rice consumers,” he added.
A draft IRR was presented to the NFA Council on Monday, the National Food Authority (NFA) said in a separate statement.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the draft IRR would be subjected to public consultations.
According to the NEDA, the “draft IRR contains provisions on the removal of NFA’s regulatory powers and the streamlining of import requirements.”
It also “provides details on the necessary institutional arrangements that will enhance competitiveness and institute safety nets to assist local farmers affected by the removal of the QR on rice imports,” the department added.
The Foundation for Economic Freedom, Inc. (FEF) on Tuesday welcomed the signing of the rice tariffication bill and urged President Rodrigo Duterte to focus more on the country’s agriculture sector.
“We laud President Duterte for signing the Rice Tariffication bill into law last Friday, February 15, 2019. It’s an economic reform that has eluded past presidents and we commend President Duterte for signing the bill into law despite intense last-minute lobbying by the National Food Authority officials and their rice trader friends,” FEF
President Calixto Chikiamco said in a statement.
The NFA union, meanwhile, called the council’s decision to fast-track the agency’s restructuring to 30 days, from a proposed 180 days, an “insult” to employees.
“We’re actually all in danger once the rice tariffication law will be fully implemented,” NFA Employees Association President Maximo Torda told The Manila Times.
“We have 4,136 [employees] as of today and immediate casualty is about 400 employees from the licensing and enforcement [departments],” he said.
“Why are they rushing? Thirty days is a very short time and it’s an insult to us. There is no matching price for the forceful eviction of employees who have worked many years in the NFA.”
The union is preparing to ask the Supreme Court to intervene, Torda said.
With a reports from ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES AND EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ
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