President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

President Marcos made the right decision when he rejected proposals to temporarily reduce tariffs on imported rice, according to Bicol Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan. 

Yamsuan said that while the ultimate goal is to lower rice prices, it should not be done at the expense of the country’s 2.4 million rice farmers, who are expected to harvest over five million metric tons (MT) of palay in the peak months of September and October. 

“Tama ang naging desisyon ng ating Pangulo. Napakadaling sabihin na ibaba ang taripa sa bigas para pumasok ang maraming imports at bumaba ang presyo nito sa merkado. Pero sino naman ang lugi? ‘Ang mga magsasaka natin na naghirap magtanim pero wala rin naman palang kikitain ang magdurusa,” said the rookie solon.. 

(The decision of our President is right. It is easy to say that we should lower tariffs to bring in more imported rice and pull down rice prices in the market. But who will suffer the loss? Our farmers who toiled hard to plant but would not profit from it will be the ones to suffer.)  

“We may not be an expert in economics, but common sense tells us that if you flood the market with imported rice, this would lead to depressed farmgate prices at a time when our farmers are in the midst of the harvest season. The band-aid solution of lowering rice tariffs at this time would be an act of grave cruelty to our farmers,” added Yamsuan. 

Yamsuan also said that lowering rice import tariffs would deprive farmers of a major source of assistance they badly need to modernize their sector and raise their incomes.  

Under Republic Act (RA) No. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law, tariff collections from rice imports will go to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which will be used to finance the modernization of the rice sector, provide farmers with wider access to credit, training, mechanization and technology, along with extending direct assistance to them.  

Citing government data, Yamsuan said almost P23 billion was collected in import duties from rice shipments entering the country last year. In the first eight months of 2023, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has already collected P17 billion in rice import tariffs. 

“That’s P40 billion in 20 months, or an average of P2 billion a month. Hence, the proposal to cut rice import tariffs would starve farmers twice over – of income which they will lose because of competition from imported rice, and of assistance and benefits they will not get because of lower tariff collections,” he explained. 

The solon's party-list is based in the Bicol Region, which accounts for close to 7 percent of the country’s total rice production.  

President Marcos, who is the concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA),  had earlier thumbed down a recommendation to cut import tariffs on rice to help stabilize prices of the Filipino food staple.  

The Chief Executive pointed to projections that global rice prices would decrease soon, which meant this was not the right time to lower import tariffs on the grain.