Groups refute government defense of rice tariffication

MABALACAT CITY — The National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan) and Bantay Bigas lambasted the arguments presented by different government agencies which are pushing for the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Bill.

In a statement sent to SunStar Pampanga yesterday, the two organizations stated that contrary to government’s claims, rice tariffication will not automatically result to lower rice prices and will only lead to the demise of the local rice industry and Filipino far mer s’l i vel i hood.

“The country’s economic managers have repeatedly argued that implementing rice tariffication will stabilize rice prices. However, since the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 to 2015, the country has imported an average of 1.3 million MT and yet, rice prices has only increased over time. We even exceeded that average reaching 2 million MT of rice imports in 2008 and 2010 and yet rice prices did not go down,” Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said.

She claimed that that such claims contradict realities both in the local and world rice market as rice prices are controlled by rice cartels.

The group said that world rice prices continue to increase. These are mostly driven by speculation monopolizing rice price biddings in the world market, they added.

As a net rice importer, it is impossible for countries like the Philippines to avoid the development in world rice market. “The same arguments were used in pushing for the Oil Deregulation Law in 1998 but look at how the consumers became helpless victims of continuing oil price hikes. The people who are pushing for rice tariffication are also the same people who pushed for and are defending the TRAIN Law which is wreaking havoc to the lives of the poor and the marginalized Filipinos,” Estavillo added.

Amihan at the same time contested the claims that tariffication will be beneficial for farmers.

“Studies show that lifting of rice QR will lead to 29 percent drop in the income of rice farmers. Local rice farmers could not compete with the flooding of subsidized rice imports in the domestic market with an expensive cost of production and backward agricultural technology which is further aggravated by lack of government support,” Amihan chairperson Zenaida Soriano said. She added that the claims that high rice prices are due to the high cost of production is also misleading. According to Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the average farmgate prices of palay as of July 2018 is P21.48. The average rice prices should be 70 percent on top of the palay farmgate price. Thus, the actual retail price of rice in the markets should only be Php36.52 per kilogram including post-harvest and transportations costs.

Amihan and Bantay Bigas said that economic managers are only using inflation to justify rice tariffication when it is actually the TRAIN Law and the continuous oil price hikes that contributed to the increase in the prices of basic commodities. The groups said that if the government intends to make affordable rice accessible to the masses, it should start with the free distribution of lands to the farmers. They also urged the national government to provide appropriate support services and subsidies to reduce the cost of production and strengthen local production.

The groups also asked President Duterte to prosecute rice smugglers and eliminate rice cartels; resolve the monopoly control on supply and distribution; implement price control; and pull out from one-sided trade agreements detrimental to the agriculture sector.