Published on: Saturday, May 22, 2021
By: Philstar
Sacks of rice at Trabajo market in Sampaloc, Manila. (ABS-CBN News)
MANILA: Malacañang has rejected the call of some senators to withdraw President Duterte’s executive order that lowers to 35 percent the tariff rates on imported rice for a year.
Duterte made the decision to avert any possible rice shortage in the next months and avoid difficulty in importing rice from neighboring Southeast Asian countries, which tightened their exports last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. cited Vietnam when it initially did not allow rice exports so it could proritise its own food security during the pandemic. Duterte had to take up the matter with Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc who agreed that the Philippines should still get supply but at much higher prices.
Press Release - Pangilinan: 5 Senators ask Malacañang to withdraw EO 135 lowering tariff on rice senate.gov.ph - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from senate.gov.ph Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Press Release
Lower rice tariffs to further burden Filipino farmers: Pangilinan
LOWERING rice tariffs now might break the back of the Filipino rice farmers and the Philippine rice industry, Senator Francis Kiko Pangilinan said Monday. Patay na naman ang rice farmers natin. Dapa na ang ating mga magpapalay dahil sa tuloy-tuloy na pasok ng imported rice. Sumubsob pa dahil sa pandemya. Ngayon, parang ililibing na sila sa hirap sa ulat na pagbaba ng taripa, Pangilinan said when asked for his reaction on the reported Executive Order 135 which lowers rice tariffs from 50 and 40 percent for in-quota and out-quota respectively to 35 percent for imports coming from so-called Most Favored Nations, particularly, India, Pakistan, and China.