DA considers reviving NFA's role in curbing rice price hike

The Department of Agriculture is "amenable" to reinstating the power of the National Food Authority to participate anew in the market and compete with the private sector to lower the jacking up cost of rice.

During Tuesday's House Committee on Agriculture and Food hearing, Christopher Morales, DA Undersecretary for the National Rice Program, said they are already mapping out the proposal to allow the NFA to regain its market dominance subject to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.'s approval.

Members of the panel stressed the urgent need to amend, if not repeal, the Rice Tariffication Law (RA 11203) amid the escalating price of rice, which is currently pegged at P51.81 and P49.44 for local well-milled and regular milled, respectively.

"The government should still be allowed to intervene in the market to study rice prices. How do you do that? Probably empower the NFA to sell cheap rice directly in the market," Quezon City Rep. Arnan Panaligan said.

The RTL prohibits NFA from directly selling its stocks in the markets and restricts its function of stocking palay or grain, which will be sold only during calamities.

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

However, Panaligan stressed that the RTL's primary objective of engaging traders in a competition to drive down the cost of rice has failed to materialize to date.

The five-year-old RTL was enacted in February 2019 during the Duterte administration.

"We cannot disregard this. That's rice, [which is a staple] food. It has to be addressed properly. And I believe that the right amendment to RTL is that give the government the power again to intervene [and] enter the market to stabilize the price of rice," he remarked.

ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro, the proponent of House Bill 404 that aims to repeal the RTL, posits that reinstating NFA's regulatory functions is indeed one of the "possible solutions" to end the longstanding crisis on the price of the staple grain.

Panel chairperson Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga said that there is "clamor to revisit RTL is overwhelming," prompting them to hold exhaustive hearings to "look into the gaps, the challenges, and the need to further enhance the effectiveness of the law."

Meanwhile, Speaker Martin Romualdez is convinced that President Marcos will certify as urgent the overhauling of RTL, taking into account that bringing down the price of rice is the top priority of his administration.

Romualdez disclosed that the House amendments to the RTL will shrink the cost of the staple grain by at least P10 or 15 per kilo, hopefully by June.

"We will do this by having the NFA bring to the market affordable rice for all citizens that they can buy at an affordable price of P30. These are the possible amendments that we are speeding up," the House chief said in an ambush interview.

Romualdez bared the House is set to pass the measure before Congress adjourns sine die on 24 May.

He also called on the Senate to work on similar changes in the RTL.