Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House Deputy Majority Leader ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo wondered on Sunday, Nov. 10 why the prices of imported rice hasn't gone down despite the huge tariff cut imposed by the Marcos administration.

“Binabaan na nga ng Pangulo ang taripa ng imported na bigas ng mga negosyante, pero ang presyo sa merkado nasa P50 to P60 pa rin ang kilo,” Tulfo said.

(The President reduced the tariff on imported rice for businessmen, and yet the prices on the market remain in the range of P50 to P60 per kilo.)

“Dont tell me walang saysay ang pagbaba ng taripa. So saan napupunta ang savings sa taripa? Dapat sa mga tao di ba?” the neophyte congressman added.

(Don't tell me that the tariff reduction was pointless. So where did the tariff savings go to? Shouldn't it be to the people?)

“Kailangan nating kumilos na (We must act now)," Tulfo said, even as he proposed that the Department of Agriculture (DA) should be the only entity allowed to import rice.

“Akala natin bababa na ang presyo ng bigas pagtapyas ng taripa, yung pala walang epekto kasi ang profit o kita sa mga importer lang napupunta,” he said.

(We thought prices of rice would go down with the tariff reduction, but it turns out there's no effect because all the profit goes to the importer.)

Earlier this year, President Marcos signed Executive Order (EO) No.62, which reduced the tariff on rice from 35 percent to 15 percent. He did it primarily to pull down rice prices. 

The deputy majority leader for communications said that it appeared that it was only the importers that were benefiting from this situation.

Tulfo said that he, along with fellow nominees Reps. Edvic Yap and Jocelyn Tulfo of ACT-CIS, Benguet lone district Rep. Eric Yap, and Quezon City 2nd district Rep. Ralph Tulfo, intend, to file on Monday a bill proposing to give the Department of Agriculture (DA) the powers needed to import rice that would be sold in the market. 

The proposed bill says that imported rice should be sold in the Philippine market at the same price that it was procured abroad. 

“Dahil bawal magbenta ang DA ng bigas, isasama natin sa panukala na ang mga interesadong rice retailers ay maari ng mag-apply bilang licensed Kadiwa outlets sa DA”, Tulfo explained. 

(Because the DA is prohibited from selling rice, we will include in the bill a mechanism that will allow retailers to apply as licensed Kadiwa outlets before the DA.)