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THURSDAY, SEPTEI{BER 5, 2019
Housep lst
rice's'fif€ ::
LEclsl-AT0RS,are,.comiderinn
' arnendments to afford ameasurcof.',
protection for rice farmers suffer-
ing from, weak,,pricesif0{ Falay; or
unmilled rice.
The'S:afteg 'M eaffi sAet"',,
,'or Republi.e$n88$0 authorlze$',
theTariff&mmissipnto'ifllpose'
temporary,'protection for domestic
producers if they are found to have
sutfered "serious injury" due to
unfair eompefition fiom'ir,npofts, ,,'
"lt may actually be an amend-.
ment to the Safeguard (Measures)
Act. Also, we may add it to the Rice
Tariffication LaW so with that we still
have to discuss how to go about that
as a committee," Rep. Wilfrido Mark
M, Enverga of the first district of
Quezon told reporters.
Mr. Enverga, who chairs the
House Agriculture and Food commit-
tee. did not givefurther details on
, his pldnned eourse of aetior " ,
RA 8800 defines "serious injury"
as "a significani impairment in the
position of a domestic induslry after
evaluation by competent authorities
, 'of all relevant factors,of an'objectiw, ,,'
and quantifiable nature having a bear-
ing on the situation of the industry
conierned, in particular, the rate and
amount of the increase in imports of
the produet' concerp$ in absoJuteond,
: relative terrRs, the share 0f the'domes'
tic market taken by increased imports,
changes in levelsof sales,:production,
productivity, capacity utilization, profit
and loses, and employment."
Rice farmers have been obtaining
weak prices for iheir palay harvests
after the Rice Tariffication Act went
into effect earlier this year. The act
liberalized rice imports, forcing
domestic farmers to compete with
\ r.Ag€ -\g,
g
, :::
measur€s
ehcap,impbfi s.f rorn.more'effieient
:
producers in the region
Rice tariffication was a response
to the inflation crisis of 2018, when
the National Food Authority (NFA)
",'
allowed its stocks of low-cost rice
- iod.wi e,,:f ng,p r,familiesto
buy thelr, grain,frorn rnorei exp€nsive
commercial dealers.
Under the law, the NFAs importing
role was taken away and effectively
,;
privatized, allowing private entities to
engage in shipping in the commodity.
,:,,, ln elthange,,rice impor,ters have
topAy,tariff-s on their inbound ship-
ments, rtjng at 557a'on rice from
Southeast Asia.
The tariffs are supposed to
support the Rice Competitiveness
EnHancehefrt Fund (RCEF), but
disbursements: fiom the fund, have
been delayed;,while the marketfor
domestic rice has softened consider-
ably because of the imports.
Various other relief programs for
farmers have bEen proBosed, includ-
ing emergency purchasing by local
governm ents, ts'support the,ma rket.
"l'm sure these will be a big help
fo.rnow,butwehave to:r'e sess
this probably two months from now
what the,impact 0f tfiis subsidy will
be,u,Mr..Ehvergasatd. ., l
', , He said herwants to,,lo'ok into
the subs to farmers being
implemented by other,'countries like
the,US. ,
-
Thailand and
:, Agricul-
;, "The, De,partment of
'ture has admitted,that,we will have,
to help the farmers first before we
even consider repealing the (Rice
Tariffication) law, but (we could
,amend it with)*-safeguard mea-
sures,f' hesaid. -- Vincent,l'latiel P.
Galang
ls'