Bill allowing NFA to sell rice anew hurdles House panels

Two congressional panels on Tuesday gave the green light on a bill that, if passed into law, would allow the National Food Authority to sell rice again in the market to curb the skyrocketing price of the staple grain.

The unnumbered substitute bill amending Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) sailed unanimously through the House Committees on Agriculture and Food and Ways and Means merely a day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed that he would certify the proposal as urgent.

Members of the panel, rice experts, and farmers group had reached a consensus to permit the NFA to intervene in the market and compete with commercial traders to drive down the soaring price of rice, currently pegged at P50 to P60 per kilo.

Federation of Free Farmers national manager Raul Montemayor said they have been awaiting Congress to review the pertinent provisions of the RTL, whose first four years, he said, were "hell" for farmers.

"In the four years of RTL, the farmers were pitiful. The price of rice fell," Montemayor told the panel.

"They lack post-harvest facilities, there are a lot of imports that are very cheap... The market was flooded [by imported rice] and the local traders in order to be able to dispose of their stocks in the market, they had to buy rice from farmers at the very low price."

Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura executive director Jayson Cainglet said the unlimited entry of imported rice in the country, authorized by the RTL, has been a strain on farmers.

"Because we limitlessly import for the past five years, and the rice tariff has dropped [but] the price has not decreased plus you still have AO 20, farmers are really at lost," Cainglet lamented.

He appealed to Congress to address the "disconnect" between farmgate and retail prices by making the former top priority.

"Our lens should be the farm gate, not just retail, which has been a problem for us year in year out, whether it's pork, chicken, or rice. We are only looking at the retail price, we are not looking at the farm gate, leaving farmers in a pitiful state," Cainglet said.

Affordable NFA rice, which was then sold at P27 per kilo, was pulled out in the markets pursuant to RTL enacted in February 2019 during the Duterte administration.

The RTL prohibits NFA from directly selling its stocks in the markets and restricts its function to stocking palay, which will be sold only to the local government units during calamities.

The 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.

NFA is likewise not allowed to participate in the government's Kadiwa program, which sells basic commodities at a much lower price.

The Department of Agriculture in early April said the cost of rice would remain high until July as the agriculture sector reels from the impact of El Niño, which is expected to persist until May.

Speaker Martin Romualdez, however, announced on Monday that a P30 per kilo rice will be available at certain Kadiwa stores beginning in July and could reach all parts of the country once amendments to the RTL hurdle Congress.

Romualdez earlier said that the House aims to pass amendments to the RTL before Congress adjourns sine die on 24 May.

The measure will proceed to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear.