President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is expected to approve the draft Executive Order extending the temporary tariff modification on commodities for 2023, a high-ranking official revealed Saturday.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan disclosed this to the weekly Saturday News Forum after the National Economic and Development Authority Board approved extending the temporary tariff modification on various products such as meat of swine, corn, and rice until 31 December 2023.

"The extension will provide relief to poor and vulnerable segments of the Filipino population whose welfare is reduced because of high inflation," Balisacan said.

"Through this policy, we shall augment our domestic food supplies, diversify our sources of food staples and temper inflationary pressures arising from supply constraints and rising international prices of production inputs due to external conflict," he added.

Balisacan told reporters that the EO should be signed before end-December to prevent the prices from going up.

"We don't want higher tariffs at this time when prices are very high," he said.

The proposed EO extends EO 171, which expires on 31 December 2022.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte issued EO 171 in May 2022, lowering pork tariffs to 15 percent (from 30 percent) and 25 percent (from 40 percent) for in-quota and out-quota shipments.

The EO also maintained rice tariffs at 35 percent for both in-quota and out-quota imports and corn tariffs at five percent (from 35 percent) and 15 percent (from 50 percent).

The order also suspended the seven percent coal tariff.