At least one million rice farmers are set to receive a P7,000 cash aid under the proposed 2026 budget to offset their financial losses caused by the dramatic plunge in palay prices, Speaker Bojie Dy announced Monday.
The monetary support will be in addition to the seed subsidy the government provides to farmers under Republic Act 12078, helping them mitigate income loss that, as estimated by the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), reached as high as P43 billion in 2025 alone.
Rice farmers in Isabela, according to the House chief, are selling their palay for as low as PP8 per kilo, relatively lower than the P16 to P18 to recover their production expenses.
This sharp drop in palay prices has exacerbated the financial strain of farmers, who have been grappling with huge losses from damaged crops caused by recent typhoons.
Dy warned that the lack of government intervention has far-reaching implications, including risks to food security, considering that rice is a primary staple food in the country.
“When rice sales fall short, not only the livelihood of farmers [are] at risk but also the food security of the entire country," the Speaker warned during the joint hearing of the House committees on agriculture and food and on ways and means regarding the moratorium on rice importation.
The FFF attributed the drop in palay prices to the surge in cheap imports flooding the market. The group lamented that the 60-day import ban under Executive Order No. 93, which took effect on 1 September, had little impact in propping up local palay prices as traders expect cheap, low-tariff imports to resume operation once the ban is lifted.
Lifting the import ban will force local farmers to sell their yields at a bargain price just to compete with cheaper rice imports, resulting in lower income.
The FFF and other farmers’ groups have urged the Marcos administration to restore the rice tariff rates to at least their previous level of 35 percent to help farmers sell their palay at a reasonable price.
In July last year, President Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order 62, which reduced the tariff on rice imports from 35 percent to 15 percent, which, according to industry groups, is to blame for the ballooning financial losses of farmers.
The Speaker backed calls to revert the tariff rates to 35 percent, urging economic managers to protect farmers against the entry of imported rice.
This is the same recommendation by a mega-panel in the previous Congress, which the economic team has yet to consider, according to Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, co-chair of the House panel.
The House, under Dy, is mirroring efforts by his predecessor, ex-Speaker Martin Romualdez, to strengthen support for local farmers by bringing down rice prices and stabilizing supply through restoring the regulatory functions of the National Food Authority (NFA), which were stripped from the agency following the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law 2019.
The law prohibits NFA from directly selling its stocks to the market and restricts its function of buffering the stocking of palay for calamities.
The RTL also abolished the NFA's powers to regulate the rice sector, license market players, inspect warehouses, track stock movements, and stabilize prices while liberalizing the importation of rice.
The 19th Congress passed a bill — RA 12078, signed by Marcos in December last year — amending the RTL. The salient provision of the law is increasing the annual allocation for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund from P10 billion to P30 billion.
The law, however, struck off provisions recommended by the House that would allow the NFA to enter the domestic rice market anew to drive down the skyrocketing cost of rice due to increased competition with commercial traders.
Then Senator Cynthia Villar, who chaired the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, vehemently opposed the House's proposal, citing previous corruption scandals of the NFA involving rice importation.
Romualdez and allies made a renewed effort to restore NFA regulatory functions, which has drawn support from the Department of Agriculture.
DA Secretary Tiu Laurel Jr. posits that reviving the crucial powers of the NFA, including that of the House’s recommendation, will help the government in its long pursuit to lower the cost of rice, currently pegged at P50 to P60 per kilo.
The figures are still a far cry from Marcos’ target of lowering the price of the staple grain to P20 per kilogram.