AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel yesterday told senators the proposed amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law is not intended to give back to the National Food Authority (NFA) the power to import rice but use the agency only as a “conduit” to import rice when needed.
Tiu Laurel made the clarification during the meeting of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization that was held to review the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) pursuant to RA 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law.
The DA leader said the plan to use the NFA to import rice “maybe once or twice a year” is aimed at bringing down the market price of the grain.
“The real intention is not to give full power back to the NFA, but use (it) as a conduit to operationalize certain moments of intervention, maybe once or twice a year, but not through the authority of anybody in the NFA,” Tiu-Laurel said.
He said the authority to import will be with the President, but said the “reaction” may come late since the Chief Executive has his hands tied up with other pressing matters.
In lieu of the President, he said the authority maybe given to the secretaries of the DA or the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
“It’s only as a last resort na kung kailangan mag-import, but on the authority of the secretary or even two secretaries of the Cabinet (It’s only as a last resort if we need to import rice [but it should be] on the authority of the secretary or even two Cabinet secretaries),” he added.
Sen. Imee Marcos agreed with Tiu-Laurel’s proposal, even as she floated the idea of creating a presidential commission for the specific purpose of rice importation.
“Kung maaari yung DA, DTI pakialaman na rin ang NFA, Kadiwa, FTI, tutal sila rin ang nagkakalat diyan. Puwedeng task force, puwedeng commission pero hindi naman kailangan na sa pang araw-araw na pagpapatakbo ang Pangulo ang makikialam. Maaari naman yung ating kagawaran mismo ang tututok diyan. Emergency lang po, huwag lang ang NFA kasi naririnig pa lang namin eh nangangatog na yung tuhod namin (If possible, the DA and DTI can oversee the NFA, Kadiwa [stores] and the FTI [Food Terminal Incorporated] since it [NFA] is the one messing things up. This can also be done through a task force or a commission but the President need not run it on a daily basis. It can be run by your department. We will just import during emergency situations but please do not give it to the NFA because we tremble [in fear] everytime that agency is mentioned),” Marcos said.
She said the DTI can be included in rice importation since the department is also concerned with the pricing of basic commodities.
Tiu-Laurel said it is also their position that the DA should take the lead in rice importation, “not NFA.”
He also proposed during the meeting that the NFA be given the authority to monitor rice stocks in government warehouses, a proposal which was shot down by Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture who said that monitoring warehouses is a mandate of the DA.
“So ibig sabihin, dapat iniimbentaryo niyo yung mga warehouse na binigay sa mga cooperatives kasi imbes na ipagamit sa cooperative eh pinapa-lease sa trader, tapos yung mga cooperatives are forced to sell their goods nang napakamura kasi mabubulok (So, this means that you [DA] should conduct an inventory of the warehouses given to cooperatives because instead of allowing cooperatives to use them, the people in-charge lease them to traders which forces the cooperatives to sell their goods at much lower prices since their produce will rot),” Villar said.
