Taxes from rice importers reach P6.5-B in mid-July
BUREAU of Customs (BOC) has thus far collected some P6.5 billion in duties from rice imports by private traders under the Republic Act (RA) No. 11203 or the Rice Liberalization Act, or an average of P1.4 billion a month since the law took effect in March this year, preliminary data show.
BOC collections from rice imports of private traders since the enactment of RA 11203 in March would benefit palay growers as such revenues are earmarked for the annual P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) that was set up under this law to finance the modernization of the agriculture sector and directly provide farmers with access to credit and training, and funds for mechanization, high-quality seeds, and fertilizers, among other forms of assistance.
As a result of the liberalized rice trade following President Dutertes signing of RA 11203, the average retail cost of the staple has since its enactment fallen by at least P7 per kilo.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the BOC said it has collected a total of P6.479 billion from
importer-traders as of July 15 under RA 11203 as of July 15, while another P3.103 billion was earned in duties from import permits issued by the National Food Authority (NFA) since January this year.
The bulk of the collections were from rice import duties under RA 11203 reported by the Port of Subic (POS), which collected P1.598 billion, followed by the Manila International Container Port (MICP) with P1.033 billion, and the Port of Manila (POM) with P998.77 million, the BOC said in its report during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) Executive Committee (Execom) meeting.
At an average of P1.4 billion a month, the BOC remains on course to collect the minimum of P10 billion needed for the RCEF per year.