Business groups urge PRRD to sign the Rice Tarrification Law to ensure food security

January 21, 2019

We, the undersigned business and professional organizations, hereby strongly support ongoing efforts and measures of the administration to liberalize the economy and thereby unleash its full potential to ensure sustainable, robust and inclusive economic growth, while ensuring better quality of life for our people through affordable food.

The need is to balance the interest of both producers and consumers.

One key measure of this effort is the rice tariffication bill approved by both Houses of Congress. This bill is intended to decisively and quickly address the rice supply disruption problem and concomitant high prices experienced last year to the detriment of consumers.

The Bill is now in Malacanang and we urge the President to sign it into law. Upon enactment, the financial resources, management expertise, logistics support and extensive nationwide distribution system of the private sector will be harnessed to ensure food security, particularly of the most important food staple — rice.

Consumers must be freed of food supply apprehension and provided with price stability at an affordable level. This measure will address those concerns through free and open competition.

At the same time, rice farmers will be accorded protection from unfair competition through the imposition of import tariff duty on thirty-five (35) percent on imported rice.

We urge the sustained provision of essential support services and facilities – irrigation, better seedlings, modern growing and efficient harvesting technology, safe agricultural chemicals and post-harvest facilities – by the government to further assist the farm sector to be more productive and increase rural income.

On the part of consumers, maintaining a strategic reserve of rice stock is essential to guard against supply dislocation that may arise in case of natural calamities, climate change and disruption in the world market of rice.

Earmarking and judicious utilization of the rice import revenue for these purposes will greatly help attain these objectives.

American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AMCHAM)
Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP)
Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX)
Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF)
Judicial Reform Initiative (JDI)
Makati Business Club (MBC)
Management Association of the Philippines (MAP)
Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA)
Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI)