Business NEWS

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Monday, August 1, that it has approved the release of subsidy to rice farmers affected by the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

President-elect Bongbong Marcos wants to increase the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which is a key component of Republic Act (RA) No. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

The Department of Finance (DOF) reported on Monday, June 13, that two government-owned banks have facilitated the distribution of over P8.2 billion in cash aid to qualified small palay farmers as part of the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance Program (RFFA).

President-elect Bongbong Marcos has underscored the importance of the agriculture sector especially with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic to the Philippines.

Taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from rice importation rose by double-digit in nearly five months, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported.

The average yield of palay farmers during the dry season has increased since the rice tariffication law (RTL) three-year ago, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported.

Gov’t earns P46 B from rice reform

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has fired back at critics of the rice tariffication law (RTL), noting that contrary to claims, the reform helped both farmers and consumers since its enactment.

The Department of Finance (DOF) has defended the implementation of the rice tariffication law (RTL), which allows unrestricted importation of rice at 35 percent tariff, as presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. is poised to suspend the three-year law enacted by outgoing President Duterte.

State-lender Land Bank of the Philippines continues in administering support programs for the Department of Agriculture as part of the rice tariffication law’s (RTL) implementation to help Filipino rice farmers.

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is now preparing for next month’s bidding of P5-billion worth of farm machineries to be funded by Rice Tariffication Law’s (RTL) Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). 

The recent recommendation of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to temporarily reduce tariffs on rice imports was described as “unwarranted and ill-timed” by a group of farmers.            

Government revenues from the private traders’ rice importations rose last year due to higher tariff rates and volume, data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed.

Year 2020 should be remembered as a busy year for Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) having been given one of the hardest tasks in the agriculture sector: modernize rice farming.           

          Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), which liberalized rice importation in the Philippines and aims to make rice farmers competitive, is approaching its third year of implementation, but the country is still way behind in rice production compared to its neighboring countries.

Despite declining volumes amid the global economic slump, revenues from rice imports surpassed the government’s full-year target in the first nine-months of the year, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is ready to set the ball rolling for the purchase of  additional P3-billion worth of farm equipment under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).             

“Rice remains as the staple food of Filipinos. And there is no food that is used as widely as rice,” says Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo on the Philippines being the sixth largest rice-consuming countries in the world.