TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Even as they brace for the full impact of the Rice Tarrification Law (RTL) as the onset of the harvest is still next month, farmers, cooperatives and the clergy here are calling for the amendment of the law to make it less onerous and injurious to the local rice industry.
They are particularly eyeing the restoration of the functions of the National Food Authority (NFA) stripped by the RTL rendering the agency practically powerless to regulate the rice industry and placing local farmers completely at the mercy of free market forces.
They are also asking for the restoration of the techniques to make rice importation harder, a practice being done in other World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries.
They would also want the law to provide for farmer representation in the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) steering committee.
This was the main action taken during the farmers’ forum here on September 19. The activity was initiated by the major cooperatives in the city led by the Tabuk Multi-purpose Cooperative (TAMPCO) jointly with the Kalinga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA), one of the organizations of churches here, to educate farmers on the RTL, listen to their concerns and ideas and come up with a united stand on the crisis created by the passage of the law.
Raul Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and committee chairman for food staples and for international trade of the National Council for Agriculture and Fisheries, an advisory body of the Department of Agriculture, informed the forum that the House version kept the functions of the NFA basically intact.
He also said that the legislators made it very easy to import by, for one, removing the power of the NFA to require licenses which is legal and is being done in other WTO member countries. He commended that the situation now is similar to allowing drivers on the road without requiring them to acquire licenses first.
He informed that the draft implementing rules and regulations of the law provided for a farmer representation in the RCEF steering committee but this did not survive the Senate process.
He said that the concept of the economic managers is that government intervention in the rice business results in inefficiency and corruption and that competition among private players would result in lower prices of rice even as he observed that this is not yet happening.
“They panicked last year due to the high inflation rate brought about by the high prices of rice. That was their only concern,” Montemayor said.
He also said that the economic managers namely Central Bank Governor Benjamin Diokno, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Socioeconomic Secretary Ernesto Pernia are calling the crisis as birth pains. He commented that the problem is it’s the farmers who happen to be the least capable to endure the adversity being already financially vulnerable are the only ones feeling the pain.
Regarding this harvest, Montemayor advised the farmers not to rely too much on the government to make good the publicized intent to buy all palay produce otherwise they will likely be disappointed. He said that to begin with, the NFA only has funds to purchase 2 percent of the total national rice production.
Montemayor had scoffed at the idea of RTL author Senator Cynthia Villar and Agriculture Secretary William Dar that LGUs purchase palay saying in addition to not having the facilities and manpower to go into the business, the transaction may even violate government laws.
Nonetheless, in a bid to minimize losses in the forthcoming harvest, the forum decided to negotiate with the NFA, the LGU and the traders for the possibility of setting up a scheme for the purchase of palay during this harvest from the funds of the NFA and the LGU using the manpower and facilities of both the NFA and the traders.
They will also request the Sangguniang Panlungsod to study the possibility of a legislation which would require the planting of just one or two quality rice varieties for purposes of added value and branding and the provision of subsidy for farmers.
They will also ask the Tabuk City LGU to stop the practice of local rice traders barring buyers from other provinces to come and do business directly with the farmers.
The body decided that the two cooperatives recognized by the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG) – the TAMPCO and the Tabuk Farmer’s Multi-purpose Cooperative – will write Villar to inform her of the effects of the law on their business and the life of their members most of whom are farmers. **Estanislao Albano, Jr.
