Malacañang’s assurance that rice imports would be disallowed during harvest time is “deceptive” and “legally untenable,” according to the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF).
Malacañang made the assurance following the issuance of Executive Order No. 135 which reduced the most favored nation tariff rates for rice to 35 percent from 40 percent for in-quota imports and 50 percent for out-quota imports for a period of one year.
FFF said the Department of Agriculture failed to arrest the drop in palay prices even if it suspended the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICs) starting in September last year
The group said during the peak harvest season, farm gate prices fell between P15 and 16 per kilogram (kg) which is way below the P19 official buying price of the National Food Authority.
“The DA failed to disclose that SPSICs issued before the moratorium had validity periods of 30 to 60 days. As a result, some 232,000 metric tons of imports still came in while farmers were harvesting between September and November,” said Raul Montemayor, FFF national manager, in a statement.
Montemayor said a moratorium on imports will also have limited effect as traders can just bring in their shipments before the ban takes effect.
He said withholding SPSIC issuances to restrict imports is illegal under the Rice Tariffication Law and the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“The WTO allows the use of SPS measures only if imports are proven to be harmful to local plants, animals or consumers. While WTO rules do allow us to temporarily impose additional safeguard tariffs to control import surges, the DA has rejected this option in favor of a remedy that violates both WTO and Philippine laws,” Montemayor said.
