ASOG backs Philippine rice import tariffication, hosts round table discussion for farmer and labor groups

Half a year into the implementation of the first tranche of tax reforms known as TRAIN, Filipinos have been heavily impacted by the continued rise in prices in food, transport, and other basic commodities. While the government seems busy trying to explain that TRAIN did not cause the bulk of this inflation, many understandably want concrete answers on what to do about inflation, regardless of what caused it.

Food in particular has been affected by inflation rates that are among the highest in the last decade. Rice prices have increased by 11% to P40 per kilo in the last 5 months alone. And with a longer view, rice prices have increased by an astounding 30% since 2010.

Although TRAIN brings immediate benefits to the Filipino middle class through lower personal income taxes, additional policies and programs are needed before benefits to lower income households can be gained. Apart from changes in cash transfer systems, an important window of opportunity in revamping a 23-year old rice policy in the country is apparent, given this commodity is not only central to the average Filipino’s diet, but a means for our farmers to put food in their own tables as well.

Last June 5, 2018, the Ateneo Policy Center organized a round table discussion on rice tariffication and policies to support agricultural development (notably in the rice sector), bringing leaders from the workers and farmers groups. The goal was to discuss key issues with area experts, and attempt to map a possible coalition to support the reform.

The discussion drew in part from a recently released study by the Ateneo Policy Center, in consultation with TUCP and other workers’ groups --- elaborating on how this policy reform can be a win-win-win for the poor, consumers, and Filipino farmers.

Additionally, a follow up opinion article by ASoG Dean Ronald Mendoza has reached online circulation, co-authored by Dr. Roehlano Briones, Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS).

Part of the RTD agenda is to lay down the benefits that this policy reform is bringing to the table. Dr. Briones readily shared the potential gains of rice tariffication from evidence-based studies and calculations. The QRs imposed currently are already at an equivalent 66% of tariffs; allowing additional importation will decrease domestic rice prices by as much as P7 per kilo.

The labor and farmers’ groups on the other hand shared their valuable insights as well as candid expectations and lingering concerns. Fund mechanisms from the tariff revenue, farmer participation and cooperatives management, safety nets, farm development, and promoting Integrated Diversified Organic Farming Systems (IDOFS) were only a few of the substantial points raised.

ASoG fully supports the advocacy on reforming existing rice policies in the form of tariffication, and envisions to play an active role in this regard in the near future. The development of the agriculture sector as one step to the country’s growth requires the cooperation of not only the public sector with our farmers and other important players, but of the academe and research as well.