YELLOW PAD
Lost amidst all the sound and fury though is an important element in the whole rice industry debate — an examination and elimination of rice cartels and smugglers.
As is typical when it comes to most laws, civil society groups have taken different positions with regard to the recently passed Republic Act 11203, otherwise known as the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL). In the midst of the continued decline in palay prices at the farmgate, some groups, led by Bantay Bigas, have launched a petition to have the law repealed. Meanwhile, Omi Royandoyan of Centro Saka and Alyansa Agrikultura wants a suspension of the law, but does not want to go back to quantitative restrictions. Rather, he wishes government to observe the rice market for six to eight cropping seasons (three to four years) and use flexible tariffs to protect the rice farmers. Other groups within the circle of the Rice Watch Action Network that are equally critical of the law have diverse positions, from outright repeal to amend, but they are united in saying that, definitely there is no more going back to quantitative restrictions. And then there's the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), led by Raul Montemayor, which does not see the need to repeal or even amend the law at this time. FFF points out that the Safeguard Measures Act can be invoked to protect the rice industry from the onslaught of imports which can be implemented alongside other measures.
But common to all these groups are calls to make sure that rice farmers survive by:
• Putting together a mix of interventions to immediately assist farmers who have definitely lost farm incomes due to the steep decline in the buying price of palay. This includes unconditional cash transfers and direct procurement from rice farmers by institutional buyers like the National Food Authority (NFA), local government units, the Department of Social Welfare and Development through its rice subsidy allocation to 4Ps beneficiaries, and other government agencies that have rice allocations. All these would need Congressional action, from enacting a supplemental budget to adequately