Brosas bill removed from merged rice tariff proposals in House
House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas requested, and was granted, the exclusion of her bill — the proposed Rice Industry Development Act — from the merged list of proposals to amend the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
She explained that no provisions in her bill were used in the other bill on RTL.
She made the request as the House of Representatives started on Monday the plenary debates on rice tariffication amendment — the substitute version of the bills that seek to amend Republic Act No. 11203 or the RTL.
Brosas asked why her proposed measure was included in the consolidated bills.
Brosas and fellow members of the Makabayan bloc filed the measure on rice industry development last June 2022.
“I have an inquiry, Mr. Speaker, because they retained in the committee report our House Bill No. 405, Mr. Speaker, so I would like to manifest (na) before I interpellate, to remove the authorship because we have questions on this particular measure,” Brosas asked.
READ: Rice tariffication law must be repealed, says lawmaker
“Our (proposed) Rice Industry Development Act or HB No. 405 was included in the bills that were consolidated for this proposed measure,” the lawmaker said.
“Now, however, our bill was not thoroughly discussed by the committee, and none of the provisions were included in the committee report,” she pointed out.
According to Brosas, HB No. 405 intends to strengthen the local production of palay, and strengthen the National Food Authority (NFA) by increasing the volume of palay bought from farmers.
“The Rice Industry Development Act will strengthen local production and the provision of productions subsidy, so that we can achieve the sufficiency level, and it also seeks to strengthen the NFA by way of increasing the volume of palay that would be bought, not only for buffer stocking, but also for sale in markets,” Brosas explained.
“Mr. Speaker, we think there is a need for a more comprehensive discussion on this proposed measure, and it might be good to separate the Rice Industry Development Act from this bill,” she said.
READ: Romualdez: Rice prices down P15 if rice tariff law amended by June
Quezon 1st District Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food who is sponsoring HB No. 10381 on the floor, said that he was amenable to Brosas’ manifestation.
“Of course, with much respect to the wishes of the principal authors, we would accede to the request of the Honorable Arlene Brosas that House Bill No. 405 be tackled separately,” he responded.
HB No. 10381 seeks to amend the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) by restoring some of the functions of NFA, as a means of stabilizing rice prices.
READ: Rep. Enverga assures public of NFA’s limited role on importation
Brosas and the Makabayan bloc have maintained that what they seek is a total repeal of the RTL.
They say the law has harmed the livelihood of farmers — as cheaper imports have flooded the market, with traders preferring imported grains over local varieties.
“Another concern, Mr. Speaker, is that House Bill No. 404, which is basically calling for the repeal. But that bill was not included here,” she said.
“We have another measure which is to repeal the Rice Tariffication Law, so it is really very different from the bill tackled. Anyway, I’ve seen that it was not included,” she noted.
