DA and DTI seek imprimatur to import 300,000 MT of rice

& Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are now seeking authorization from President Duterte to push through with the government’s pending importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of rice.

In an online news briefing on Thursday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque disclosed Agriculture Secretary William Dar and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez have submitted their request to the Office of the President.

This comes after Businessmirror reported the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) questioned the legality of the tender by Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), which is an attached agency of DTI.

The online bidding under a government-to-government (G2G) scheme was held earlier this month and was participated by India, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.

DBM maintained that DA and DTI cannot import rice without the necessary approval of the President.

“When we consulted DA, DTI, and PITC [on the matter], they answered DTI and PITC will not import without the authorization from President Duterte,” Roque said.

He noted the said agencies justified the conduct of the bidding ahead of the permission from Duterte so they could start the importation by next month.

“A documented bid process was conducted ahead of time to ensure the importation of rice will be completed by July 15 [2020],” said Roque citing the explanation from DA and DTI.

As of this writing, Duterte has yet to approve the request of DA and DTI.

In DTI’S hands

THE DA, meanwhile, said the decision to pursue the 300,000 MT rice importation is now in the hands of the DTI, the mother agency of the PITC, which conducted the tender last week.

In a virtual news briefing, the DA explained that the G2G rice importation was approved by the government’s Inter-agency Task Force.

But if there is no “cover” for the transaction, then it is up to Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez and the DTI if they want to push through with the rice importation, the DA said.

In April, the DA disclosed that the rice importation via G2G was its brainchild as a “contingency” effort to ensure that the country has sufficient stockpile amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The DA and the National Food Authority are providing technical advice to the PITC regarding the G2G importation since they have been involved with rice importation, especially G2G, prior to deregulation of the rice industry.

The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said the DA should “at least help” the DTI to “cleanly get out of the mess” created by the complications surrounding the importation since it was their initiative in the first place.

“It does not look good that DA now appears to be abandoning PITC and DTI,” FFF National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said.