Low-cost rice solution underway – Marcos

(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday that the Congress bicameral committee was ready to present a solution to the high price of rice.

«I don't want to preempt the bicameral committee, but I think we have found the solution already,» Marcos told reporters in Cagayan de Oro City.

Marcos said the Senate and the House of Representatives developed a scheme wherein the government will be allowed to import rice to reduce its price in the market.

«If the price of rice is high, we will sell in a lower price, so the market would follow,» he said.

The President said it has yet to be decided which government agencies will be given authority to import rice.

«We are coordinating with them, and I think we may have found the solution, and we think that we will be immediately able to bring down the price of rice,» Marcos said, adding that the proposed amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) will be certified as urgent.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved, on second reading, House Bill 10381, which proposes amendments to the RTL.

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Under the measure, the Department of Agriculture Secretary, upon the recommendation of the National Price Coordinating Council or Local Price Coordinating Council, may declare a food security emergency when there is a shortage in the supply of rice, sustained increase in the price of rice, or extraordinary increase in the price of rice.

Under these conditions, the National Food Authority (NFA) may use existing inventory, primarily intended for buffer stocking, to supply areas where price increases or supply shortages occur.

It also mandates the maintenance of sufficient buffer stock requirements sourced from local farmers' organizations and cooperatives.

If the buffer stock requirement is still not sufficient, the NFA is allowed to, in the following order: purchase local milled rice; purchase up to a maximum of 30 percent brought in by accredited importers at cost; and as a final recourse, once all domestic sources have been exhausted, directly import rice, subject to explicit authorization from the agriculture secretary.

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Besides empowering the NFA, the bill also proposes that the base