Philippines : NFA exec wants RTL amended for rice industry, farmers’ benefits
NFA chief Larry Lacson backed amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law to restore NFA’s market intervention and regulatory powers. He said this would stabilize rice prices, prevent hoarding, keep stocks fresh, and better protect farmers and consumers. NFA currently holds sufficient buffer stocks for emergencies.
ROSALES, Pangasinan – National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Larry Lacson has expressed support to the amendments on the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) for the benefit of the rice industry, the farmers, and consumers.
Lacson, in an interview on Friday during the groundbreaking ceremony for a modernized warehouse here, said they wanted to include in the amendment NFA’s market intervention powers to be restored, which were removed under the RTL in 2019.
“We know that we cannot sell to the market, to the grains’ retailers. P20 (Benteng Bigas, Meron Na! program) and emergencies, calamities only. What effect will that have on us? If we are given a market intervention where we are able to dispose regularly, our stocks will no longer age. So, it will always be fresh, it will always be good,” he said.
He added the law stripped the NFA of key regulatory powers and the ability to stabilize rice prices and supply, including the authority to sell rice directly to the public.
“For now, who is regulating the retailers, the traders? Who has a list? None. Bodega (warehouse) Who knows that? None. We don’t know if they are really hoarding. So, it should be reversed, just like before, so that at least we know who are the players in the industry. And at the same time, we can talk to them because we know them. Now, we don’t know them. They have their own market trade,” he said.
In December 2024, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law a measure seeking to amend the RTL as the government moves to ensure stable food supply and lower rice prices.
The RTL, or Republic Act 11203, liberalized rice imports by replacing quantitative restrictions with tariffs and established the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund to support farmers through mechanization, seeds, credit, and training.
Critics, however, blamed the measure for driving down palay prices and weakening the NFA’s regulatory role, prompting renewed calls for its amendment.
Lacson said once amended, the rice industry would provide more stability, benefiting the farmers and the consumers.
He said the amendments are with the working group of the House of Representatives and in the Senate.
“I think there is a broad consensus that this will be brought back to us. Actually, there are a lot of bills filed in Congress with regards to this,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lacson said NFA has sufficient buffer stock to last within 11 days with 2.7 million bags of milled rice.
“And we will still be able to buy. We will still be able to buy. So, there is nothing to worry about. We are ready if there is a calamity. Our stocks are in position,” he said. (PNA)
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Source : PNA
