WALANG plano ang gobyerno na repasuhin o ipawalang-bisa ang Rice Tariffication Law, ayon sa Departments of Finance at Agriculture.
Iba’t ibang stakeholders, partikular ang mga magsasaka, ang humiling na repasuhin at ipawa-lang-bisa ang batas sa harap ng negatibo nitong epekto sa presyo ng bigas.
“Give the law a chance to be implemented properly,” sabi ni Agriculture Sec William Dar sa mga mamamahayag sa 11th World Rice Conference sa Makati City.
“So after some time, if there will be some little adjustments to make it much more effective, then that’s the period we shall revisit,” ani Dar.
“But the decision today is that within now and the near future, pagbigyan naman itong bagong batas na maganda ang pagka-implementa,” aniya.
Sa hiwalay na talumpati, sinabi ni Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III na, “There is no inclination to repeal, revise or suspend rice tariffication law. We are confident that this is the best means to move our agriculture sector forward and foster competitiveness.”
“We will never return to the old regime of unstable rice supplies, high retail prices, profiteering and low productivity,” dagdag ng kalihim.
“The law has brought down the price of our country’s staple food for more than a hundred mil-lion Filipinos. On average, today’s Filipino consumer already enjoys a reduction of around P8 per kilo,” pagbibigay-diin pa ng Finance chief.
Nabiyayaan, aniya, nito ang maraming pamilya, lalo na ang low income households na nagla-laan ng 20% ng kanilang budget sa bigas.
Noong Marso hanggang Oktubre ay nakakolekta ang pamahalaan ng P11.4 billion na taripa mula sa imported rice, mas mataas sa inaasahang P10 billion.
Ayon kay Dominguez, ang excess funds ay makatutulong sa mga magsasaka, crop insurance, titling of lands, at iba pang financial requirements ng rice farming sector. PILIPINO Mirror Reportorial Team
