We are now reaping only the initial harvest of the Rice Tariffication Law. The Duterte administration is determined to bring this historic reform measure to full fruition.

Policymakers rule out a repeal of the Rice Tariffication Law, saying import surges and weak palay prices are one-off transition challenges or birth pains.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the government has finally broken the “stranglehold of inefficiency” in the domestic rice industry with the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) that aims to “revolutionize” the agriculture sector and slash the cost of the staple for the benefit of over 100 million consumers.

The law, which has liberalized imports of the grain, will be fully implemented as government pursues measures to stamp out smuggling and hoarding by unscrupulous traders to cushion the impact on both palay growers and rice consumers of the so-called “transition challenges” arising from the newly deregulated market, Dominguez said.

He said the government is also carrying out a slew of measures to help farmers affected by falling palay farmgate prices, including the grant of interest-free, easy-to-pay loans and unconditional cash transfers (UCT) to rice growers.

“We are confident that these transition challenges are temporary. Nevertheless, the government is responding to them with decisiveness. There is no inclination to repeal, revise or suspend the Rice Tariffication Law. We are confident that this is the best means to move our agriculture forward and foster competitiveness,” Dominguez said at the 11th World Rice Conference held Wednesday at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

The RTL or Republic Act 11203, has removed the quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice trading and imposed a minimum 35 percent tariff on imports of the grain.

Under the law, tariff collections from rice imports will go to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which will get P10 billion yearly to finance the long-overdue modernization of this rural sector by providing farmers with wider access to credit, agricultural training and extension work; and fresh funds for mechanization, high-quality seeds, fertilizers and other forms of assistance.

An Agriculture Secretary during the former Corazon Aquino administration, Dominguez said that in only seven months, the RTL has netted tariff revenue of P11.4 billion, or already beyond the P10 billion earmarked each year for RCEF.

With over P11 billion in import tariffs this early, the government “has ample means to do even more to make our agricultural production more efficient,” Dominguez said.

Rice tariffication, Dominguez said, should be viewed as an “opportunity to revolutionize the agriculture sector and help farmers become more competitive in the global economy.”

“We are now reaping only the initial harvest of the Rice Tariffication Law. The Duterte administration is determined to bring this historic reform measure to full fruition,” Dominguez said.

He said in slashing market prices by about P8 per kilo since the lifting of the QRs on rice imports last March, RA 11203 has significantly reduced inflation, which, in turn, boosted household spending that helped drive GDP growth to 6.2 percent in the July-September period.

Short-term “transition challenges,” such as the drop in palay farmgate prices in several areas, are being decisively addressed by the Duterte administration through several measures, Dominguez said.

Among them is the implementation by the Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Survival and Recovery or SURE-aid program, which offers affected farmers a P15,000 interest-free loan each, payable over eight years.

The DA is also working on the procurement of palay above production costs by local government units (LGU), along with the provision of bank loan programs to enable these LGU to buy this season’s harvest from growers in their respective localities, Dominguez said.