House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Members of the House of Representatives hailed on Tuesday, May 7 the swift passage at the committee level of a measure that aims to amend the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) for the purpose of making rice more affordable for the poor.

During  Tuesday’s regular press conference, Deputy Majority Leader and PBA Party-list Rep. Migs Nograles said that the bill’s approval proved that the lower chamber was a “House that listens”.

“We listen, you see that the House listens and the House really acts right away on these important issues and addresses these issues in the best way that we can,” said Nograles.

“Under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez and of course, the leadership of the President na pinapakinggan naman natin yung direksyon ng (that we listen to the direction of) administration which at the end of the day, will really go back to the people,” she added.

That same morning, the House Committee on Agriculture and Food approved the still unnumbered substitute bill that sought to amend Republic Act (RA) No.11203, which embodies the RTL.

A vital revision to the RTL is the proposed revival of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) authority to directly sell cheaper rice to the market.

“Mahirap magutom ang isang tao, mahirap din na since marami talagang kumakain ng bigas at mahal ito (It is difficult for a person to go hungry, it is also difficult for many people to eat rice since it’s expensive). It’s good to trickle down,” Nograles said.

For Zambales 1st district Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, the proposed amendments will help balance the financial assistance to farmers together with ensuring that the public, especially the poor Filipinos, can easily avail relatively inexpensive rice.

Meanwhile, fellow “Young Guns” member, 1-RIDER Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez says he welcomes the amendments with "cautious optimism".

“Of course, we understand yung fears natin dito yung binabalik yung NFA. Alam naman po natin na issue dati yung NFA, but this seems to be the drive that we need right now kasi nga may problema tayo dito sa presyo,” said Gutierrez.

(Of course, we understand our fears here that the NFA is eyeing a return. We know that the NFA was an issue before, but this seems to be the drive that we need right now because we have a problem here with the prices.)

Gutierrez noted that even before President Marcos announced his intention to certify the measure as urgent, the House of Representatives already started to prioritize the bill.

“It's just in line with what we've always said, we're just putting action to our words na kapag priority ito ng (that when it is a priority of the) House, we do everything that we can within our powers,” he said.

While the House members move closer to amending the RTL, some of their colleagues in the Senate are seemingly in opposition to the move. These include Senators Imee Marcos and Cynthia Villar.

For his part, Bukidnon 2nd district Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores has asked the senators to present their basis of opposition to the amendments, which he says will significantly lower rice prices.

“Where moving in that direction to look for ways and we thought that this would be the best to do that. So, if the Senate opposes it or some Senators oppose, we would also like to know why there is an opposition to these moves,” Flores underscored.

Nograles says these senators should instead propose solutions that they deem are better than the current action of the House. 

At the end of the day, it’s all for the benefit of the Filipino people, she said.