The Department of Agriculture (DA) will study a proposal to reinstate the regulatory powers of the National Food Authority (NFA) to sell cheaper rice in the markets in light of the escalating cost of the commodity.

DA's National Rice Program Undersecretary Christopher Morales assured the House Committee on Agriculture and Food that he would "definitely discuss" with Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. the clamor to allow the NFA to participate anew in the domestic rice markets.

Morales' commitment comes in response to ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Erwin Tulfo's appeal, citing inquiries from various consumers reaching his office regarding when the NFA rice will be accessible in the markets again.

"Right now, the price of our rice is like gold. Unlike before when NFA was selling rice in the market, it was affordable, people bought it. It is also fragrant, it is also white, but it is cheaper by P10 [or] P15 per kilo compared to commercial rice," Tulfo said in vernacular.

Cheaper subsidized rice, which was then sold at P27 per kilo, was pulled out in the markets pursuant to the Rice Tariffication Law (RA 11203), enacted in February 2019 during the Duterte administration.

The law prohibits NFA from directly selling its stocks to the market and restricts its function of buffering the stock of palay for calamities.

The RTL also abolished NFA's powers to regulate the rice sector, license market players, inspect warehouses, and track stock movements, while liberalizing the importation of rice.

NFA deputy administrator Mario Andrada said the agency is also not allowed to participate in the government's Kadiwa Program, which sells basic commodities at a much lower price than those being sold in commercial stores and supermarkets, as part of NFA's stabilization function.

"All we can do is [to sell it to the LGU] and then they are the ones who will sell it," Andrada said in Filipino.

Tulfo stressed that there is an urgent need to review the RTL, especially the provision that restricts the NFA from regularly selling rice amid the high cost of the staple grain.

"Tinker a little bit with our RTL because it's a bit wrong. By taking away the authority or the power of NFA to sell rice to the public at a lower cost, you also took away the power of the people, the poor to buy cheap rice," he said.

"There is an urgency. We cannot sit back and relax while most of our kababayans cannot afford for living under minimum wage," Tulfo added.

DA Assistant Secretary Paz Benavidez, on the other hand, countered that the escalating price of prime commodities, including rice, could be addressed without tinkering with the RTL, citing Section 9 of the Price Act (RA 7581).

Benavidez said a technical working group has already been formed to draft the rules and regulations to implement the said provision.

Section 9 of the law provides the allocation of a buffer fund to an agency in order to procure, import, or stockpile any prime commodities and devise measures to distribute the same at reasonable prices in time of a shortage in supply or a need to effect changes in its prevailing price.

"We will have the buffer fund and we will make sure that yung mga sensitive products, including rice, corn, meron talagang stock ang DA because we are allowed also to stockpile," she said.

These essential goods, she added, could be released in Kadiwa and retail stores.

But Tulfo contended this would not completely solve the issue, taking into account that not every community, especially in the far-flung areas, has Kadiwa stores and that it only exist three to four times a week.

In early April, the DA announced that the price of rice would remain high until July owing to the impact of El Niño on the agriculture sector.

El Niño is expected to persist until May, according to the state weather bureau PAGASA.