The Department of Agriculture (DA) is pushing for the revival of proposed legislation that aims to prevent rice wastage by pushing restaurants to standardize the serving of half-a-cup of rice.
(From left) DA-PhilRice Deputy Executive Director Dr. Karen Eloisa Barroga and Development Communication Division Head Dr. Hazel Antonio (RTVM screenshot)
Senate Bill 1863, or the "Anti-Rice Wastage Act of 2013," was filed by then-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2013 seeking to impose fines on establishments that refuse to serve half-cup rice orders.
During a Palace press briefing on Thursday, Nov. 9, Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) Development Communication Division Head Dr. Hazel Antonio said that they are looking at the proposed bill as it was not passed during Marcos’ term in Senate.
They are currently in talks with Senator Loren Legarda if she could sponsor the bill.
Noting that there are currently 46 local ordinances on serving half-a-cup of rice, the expert stressed this will be done “in consultation with the businesses.”
“We’ll try to revive that and to have another Senate bill for half cup of rice. Kasi ang lagi rin nilang sinasabi, mas maganda kung national iyong law para at least kahit saan ka pumunta, alam mo na dapat magse-serve sila ng half (Because what they always say is it’s better if it’s a national law so at least, wherever you go, you know that they should serve half),” she explained.
Naga City, Iloilo City, and Davao City are examples of cities with a half-a-cup of rice ordinances.
“Ang nakasaad lang po talaga doon ay iyong dapat available siya and sana default siya sa mga plated na meals, tapos half din iyong presyo niya (What’s there is that half cup should be available and hopefully, it becomes default in plated meals, then it’s price will also be half),” Antonio added.
The push to revive the President’s proposed bill came as PhilRice took note of the rice wastage totaling to P7 million a year that could already feed 2.5 million Filipinos.
However, DA-PhilRice Deputy Executive Director Dr. Karen Eloisa Barroga understands that half-a-cup of rice may not be enough for other Filipinos, especially those working in the construction industry, so the need to order for more will be left to the consumers’ decision.
“So nasa decision mo (it’s your decision) how much you need. The point is, we avoid wastage,” she added.
The official also acknowledged the “unlimited rice” promos in some restaurants, though it should be emphasized that consumers can get as much as they want as long as they finish it off.
“So iyon din po talaga iyong stand namin na kunin lang talaga iyong gusto nila, and sana iyong mga unli rice, ganoon, mag-sanction talaga sila kapag hindi naubos (So, that’s our stand that they get only what they can finish, and hopefully, the unli rice promos have sanctions if the rice isn’t finished),” Antonio explained.
This avoidance of wastage has led PhilRice to the Be RICEponsible campaign, which a 2014 research and development study said aims for the consumption of healthier rice and the non-wastage of rice.
“What we have done in the past was to encourage a half cup serving as default. And some of the restaurants in the cities and provinces partnered with us to make sure that we could have a default serving of half cup of rice para hindi sayang, maiwasan natin ang wastage (so it’s not going to waste, we can prevent wastage),” Barroga added.