The Department of Agriculture (DA) has met with leaders of congressional committees on agriculture and is now optimistic that the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) will be amended according to the proposals pushed by the DA to modernize and future-proof the P385-billion local rice industry.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has met with Senator Francis Pangilinan and Quezon Rep. Mark Envarga, both chairmen of the Senate and House committees on agriculture, respectively, and came away from the meetings confident that Congress will amend the RTL as the DA proposed, the agency said.
In a statement on Tuesday, August 12, Tiu Laurel has warned the local rice industry will not be able to fight cheaper and higher-quality imports, shifting consumer preferences, and unregulated importation, amid the reduced milling and drying capacities of the National Food Authority (NFA) in its redefined roles, and the government’s limited powers to stabilize markets, manage buffer stocks, and set a floor price for palay.
Tiu Laurel has asked Congress to restore the DA NFA’s powers to regulate rice imports, and allow it to sell rice in public markets to stabilize commercial supply and prices, while managing the national buffer stocks and setting a floor price for palay.
“Our fighting target is to get these proposed amendments to the RTL enacted into law before the start of the harvest season, which begins March next year (2026). If we could convince President Marcos to certify a bill that includes all these amendments as urgent, then we should get this passed sooner,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA said Tiu Laurel met with Pangilinan on Monday, August 11, following a similar meeting with Enverga.
“And with this visit of Senator Pangilinan, we are confident we could secure the backing of the Senate for these amendments that could ensure the modernization of the rice industry and the overall agriculture sector, securing a better future for our hardworking farmers and fisherfolk,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA said it has been endorsing House Bill Number 1 of Speaker Martin Romualdez in the House of Representatives, called the Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment Act, as it contains all the proposed amendments of the DA.
“We need to fix a lot of things in the current RTL, as well as improve the provision of direct support and extension services for farmers and fisherfolk, down to the grassroots level,” Pangilinan was quoted as saying in the DA statement.
The original version of the RTL approved in 2018, liberalized the country’s rice sector, specifically rice importation. It limited the NFA’s powers to the maintenance of the country’s national rice buffer stock at 15 days by buying palay solely from local sources, providing the staple during emergencies, calamities or a national food emergency, and by bidding out aging stocks.
The RTL mandated that at least P10 billion of the tariffs collected from imported rice be poured into the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), to help farmers modernize through mechanization, input subsidies, and financial assistance.
The RTL amendment late in 2024, extended the RCEF funding until 2031 and tripled its annual budget to P30 billion. However, the DA NFA cannot intervene in rice imports and cannot import rice to boost stocks or directly sell to the public.
