President Marcos' economic managers maintained that the National Food Authority (NFA) should continue its role in buffer stocking and intervene in the market only during emergencies.

National Economic and Development Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said that any reforms to the state grains agency should focus on strengthening its role as a "manager of stocks.”

Balisacan said this is the unified stance of the economic team, composed of him, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, on the proposed bill in Congress aimed at amending the rice tariffication law (RTL).

One of the amendments being considered is the reinstatement of the NFA's mandate to purchase and distribute rice, a money-losing practice that involves buying rice at higher prices from farmers and selling it at lower prices to consumers.

“The gains in the reforms that we have had over the years must be preserved, and a part of these reform programs that we have done is to improve the efficiency and operation of NFA,” Balisacan said.

But when discussing the possibility of RTL amendments, Balisacan suggested that it should instead define what constitutes emergency purposes well.

President Marcos earlier said that he intended to certify the RTL amendments as urgent in order to aid in reducing rice prices, which are currently ranging from P50 to P60 per kilo.

“If there are sharp price increases in the domestic market, it must be able to use enough stocks to help the poor and to address the supply requirement of those affected by said crisis like drought or floods, other disasters that impact certain groups of households or areas,” the NEDA chief said.