Farmers lamented what they called as “haste” in the conduct of public hearing on the proposed reduction in rice tariffs from 35 percent to 10 percent.
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), the largest farmers’ union in the country, in a statement called the scheduled tariff hearing a “farce”.
The Tariff Commission (TC) has scheduled an online public hearing on rice tariffs Friday, Sept. 15, following a petition by the Foundation of Economic Freedom (FEF) to reduce rice tariff to 10 percent from 35 percent.
FFF National Manager Raul Montemayor said that the proposal was ill-timed, since farmers are about to harvest the main season crop and rice prices will naturally go down.
“Encouraging additional imports through tariff reduction will further depress palay prices and discourage farmers from expanding their future production, thereby making the country even more dependent on imports,” Montemayor said in a statement.
He reiterated that a tariff cut will not benefit poor consumers, because 85 percent of imports are for premium grades of rice for sale to relatively well-off consumers.
Montemayor further said that FFF’s analysis of data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed, among others, that consumers saved a measly P52 per year during the first three years of the Rice Tariffication Law, which opened up the domestic market to unlimited volumes of cheap imports.
Montemayor noted that the advisory on the tariff hearing also came soon after public announcements – endorsing tariff cuts - by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Arsenio Balisacan and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
The TC will submit its findings and recommendations to NEDA, which has to wait for Congress to recess on Sept. 30, before an executive order authorizing a tariff decrease can be signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Instead of going through the executive to reduce tariff, the FFF would like Congress to act on tariff adjustments, as the authority to adjust tariff rates is vested in Congress.
“The authority to adjust tariffs is constitutionally vested in Congress. This power can be delegated to the President only during extraordinary situations. The economic managers are abusing this privilege by waiting for Congress to recess on September 30, so that they can ask the President to cut rice tariffs through an Executive Order,” Montemayor said in a statement.
He also expressed doubt their voices will be heard in the public hearing.