Farmers' groups gather signatures vs Rice Tariffication Law
MANILA, Philippines — Agricultural organizations Bantay Bigas and the National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan), along with Anakpawis partylist, will hold a petition signing on Friday to protest rice prices and the impact of Republic Act 11203, or the Rice Tariffication Law.
The signing will be done at Mega Q-Mart in Quezon City on Friday afternoon.
"Dapat harapin ito ng gobyerno sa pamamagitan ng direct support sa magsasaka, tulad ng subsidized loans and subsidized inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, postharvest facilities, at 100-percent irrigation sa ating rice lands," Estavillo said.
(The government should face the issue by providing direct support to our farmers, in the form of subsidized loans and subsidized inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, postharvest facilities, and 100-percent irrigation of our rice lands.)
RA 11203 removed quantitative restrictions on the volume of imported rice. Bantay Bigas, which monitors rice prices, said removing the limits on rice importation has hurt farmers.
“Isasangkalan ng pribadong sektor ang pagbaha ng imported na bigas, para tuluyang baratin ang presyo ng palay, maging sa antas ng pagkalugi ng mga magsasaka,” Bantay Bigas said in a briefer.
(The private sector risks the influx of imported rice, which would impair the domestic industry and plunge local rice farmers into debt.)
Bantay Bigas said that palay prices in some areas remain between P10 to P12 per kilogram. It also recorded cases of P7 per kilogram in Isabela and Tarlac provinces.
The group is urging passage House Bill 8512, or the Rice Industry Development Act, to replace the Rice Tariffication Law. The bill was filed during the 17th Congress by Anakpawis partylist Representative Ariel Casilao and other Makabayan bloc lawmakers.
Among the bill’s aims, according to the Bantay Bigas briefer, are providing a budget for a rice development program which would form a system of socialized credit, irrigation development, post-harvest facilities, and direct support to farm inputs.
HB 8512 will have to be refiled in the 18th Congress, which began its first regular session in July.
Bantay Bigas, Amihan, and other farmer groups also held on Tuesday a protest dialogue with the Department of Agriculture, urging it to raise the buying price of Palay.
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