SPEAKER Martin Romualdez yesterday assured the public that the price of rice is expected to go down in time for President Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation (SONA) on July 22 because of the Chief Executive’s issuance of an executive order reducing tariff rates on imported rice.
“We want this to happen as soon as possible. That’s why we’ve been meeting and pushing for immediate action. Hindi pwede na aantok-antok tayo, patulog-tulog lang (We can’t be sleeping on the job), we have to be always on the ball,” Romualdez told reporters after he and other House leaders met with leaders of the Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders Movement (PRISM) at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City.
Also present during the meeting were Reps. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), chair of the House Committee on Appropriations; Mark Enverga fo Quezon, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food; Rep. Erwin Tulfo (PL, ACT-CIS) and National Food Authority (NFA) OIC administrator Larry Lacson.
PRISM founders Rowena Sadicon and Orly Manuntag assured the public that rice prices would significantly drop to as low as P42 per kilo by July after discussions on stabilizing rice prices in the market in line with the President’s Executive Order (EO) No. 62, which reduces the tariff on imported rice from 35 percent to 15 percent.
Manuntag, who is also the spokesperson of the Grain Retailers Confederation of the Philippines, said the reduced tariff would be felt across the markets, especially by Filipino consumers.
“Inaasahan po namin nasa mga P45-P46 o P44-P42 ang ating mga presyo ng bigas sa market pagpasok nitong July, sa 15 percent na tariff po natin (We expect market prices to go down to P45-46 or even P44-P42 by July because of the 15 percent tariff),” he said.
Sadicon, who is also PRISM’s lead convenor, addressed the concerns of local farmers, assuring them that their interests would not be overlooked despite the tariff reduction.
“We’d like to assure din po ang ating mga farmers at ang ating mga local production na isusulong po natin ang ating cluster farming at matulungan po sila nang husto na hindi po mapabayaan ‘yun pong ating local production (We’d also like to assure our farmers, our local production, that we’ll push for our cluster farming and they’ll be greatly assisted so that our local production will not be left behind),” she said.
Last May 21, the House approved on third and final reading the proposed amendments to the RTL under House Bill (HB) No. 10381, which seeks to lower the price of rice to less than P30 from the current retail prices of between P40 to as more than 50 per kilo.
The bill seeks to enhance the government’s buffer stocking capabilities and authorize market interventions to stabilize rice prices during emergency situations, ultimately easing the burden on consumers.
Under the bill, the NFA is tasked with registering and monitoring all grain warehouses, ensuring compliance with rice quality and supply standards, and maintaining a national database.
Romualdez last week said the House and the Senate are close to reaching an agreement on the proposed amendments to the RTL following the first official meeting between him and Senate President Francis Escudero.
The Speaker has said he expects Sen. Cynthia Villar, who opposed the House’s proposal to restore the power of the National Food Authority (NFA) to directly import and sell rice, to file her version of the bill seeking amendments to the RTL.
