Diokno backs retention of Rice Tariffication Law

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno will recommend to President Marcos to retain the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) amid calls for the repeal or suspension of the measure.

Diokno said that rice used to be a major driver of inflation upticks prior to the RTL, which opened the floodgates for cheap rice imports.

Before the law’s enactment, rice was the single biggest contributor to inflation. As of now, rice has a negative to minimal contribution to the headline rate.

“That’s a really good law, it had a major contribution to our desire to control inflation. I think it’s not smart to go back to the old system,” Diokno said.

“It’s been our problem for the past years. Yes, I will recommend (to President Marcos) that we don’t go back to the old system,” he said.

Over three years into RTL’s implementation, many farmers are still calling for the reassessment, suspension and eventual repeal of the law.

No less than Marcos backed the proposal to to review the law.

In his first executive meeting as agriculture secretary this week, Marcos asked the agency about its stand on the RTL.

“Give me a short memo on whether we should or we should not ratify (the law), the pros and cons,” Marcos said.

In 2018, inflation in the country hovered around five to six percent, hitting a high of 6.9 percent in September and October of that year.

The law was enacted in 2019 and the Philippines saw average inflation at 2.4 percent in 2019 and 2020.

The economic team of the previous administration, which Diokno was also a part of, has been vocal about its stand against calls to amend the law.

The country’s economic managers said the law gave way to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which has an annual appropriation of P10 billion to fund programs for farm mechanization, seed development, propagation and promotion, credit assistance, and extension services.

Any excess in tariff revenues are allocated for financial assistance to rice farmers, titling of agricultural rice lands, expanded crop insurance program, and crop diversification program.

Last year, the government raised P18.9 billion from rice tariff collections.

Data showed the government had already collected P8.35 billion as of May this year.