The Rice Tariffication Law: amidst the sound and fury
fund the transfers, or procurement, or both to enacting Joint Resolution Nos. 2 and 8. In fact, the President should seriously consider calling on Congress to come back from their junkets and hold a Special Session to quickly act on these two emergency measures for our rice farmers.
• Giving farmers debt relief,
especially for farmers owning one hectare and less of land who have outstanding debts with the Land Bank of the Philippines. Strengthened crop insurance and an increase in the buying price at the farmgate are likewise demanded.
• Further studying the charter of
the NFA — which was left hanging in the frenzy to pass the RTL — should there be need to have government levers to regulate and accredit importers. Further, the charter review and eventual amendment should be able to address NFA's operational and procurement budgets.
• The judicious use of the Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to make sure that the revenues derived from the tariffs slapped on rice imports go to farmers to improve their productivity.
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. For all we know, they have their mouthpieces in Congress, the Senate, among elected local government officials, or even appointed in Executive positions who enjoy their current privilege by being the powers-that-be in the rice industry. It is equally urgent that the Philippine Competition Commission does its job and look at cartel-like behavior among rice importers. Further, there are resolutions filed by Representatives Estella Quimbo of Marikina and Argel Cabatbat of the Magsasaka Partylist that call for the investigation of rice cartels. If anything, the rice cartels and smugglers should be the ones exposed and pilloried.
Indeed, the problems besetting the rice industry will not be solved by the RTL. We need to address the systemic issues that serve as bottlenecks in making our agriculture sector predictable and competitive, like the enactment of the National Land and Water Use Policy, to the obliteration of the cartels and smugglers. Lest we forget, our small farmers and small holder agriculture producers must be organized and empowered.
Painfully ironic, but the more than two decades of postponing the shift from quantitative restrictions to tariffs has not made our rice farmers more competitive. Rather, they were just given a false sense of security that government would be doing something to the point that not much has been done to get them organized and prepared for this eventuality.