Sensible policy intervention

THERE are many issues in our society that can be ad­dressed without appropriating additional budget but by simply rationalizing the use of available resources.

The negative effect of the Rice Tariffication Law on the price of local palay and the consequent adverse economic impact to local rice farmers are issues that need to be immediately addressed.

While the obvious and “easy” solutions to these issues are those that require additional budget or funding, such as finan­cial subsidy to farmers and the purchase by the National Food Authority (NFA) of local palay above market rates, both cham­bers of the Philippine Congress showed that a policy intervention can be made instead to address the same.

The Senate approved on Third Reading and the House Com­mittee on Agriculture and Food approved at the committee level a measure that directs the grant of rice subsidies and assistance, such as those given to the ben­eficiaries of the Pantawid Pami­lyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), to be in rice instead of cash form. The measure also provides for the purchase of palay from local farmers only.

Budgets for such rice subsi­dies and assistance both at the national and local governments are already provided for.

In requiring the grant of rice instead of cash to beneficiaries and the purchase of palay from local farmers, new and higher demand for local rice is created. The policy intervention effective­ly protects local rice from losing to imported rice that are sold at lower prices in the market.

The beneficiaries of the 4Ps, for example, will receive 20 kilos of rice instead of R600. Using the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Develop­ment (DSWD) for rice subsidy, the NFA will buy palay from lo­cal farmers and have the same milled. With a budget of R30 per kilo, the NFA can buy palay at a rate definitely higher than the current “depressed” prices of local palay.

Unlike commercial dealers that purchase palay or rice to make profit, the government makes purchases, in this case palay or rice, to serve the people.

The policy proposed by the two chambers of the Philip­pine Congress will effectively counter the negative effect of the Rice Tarrification Law on the economic well-being of local farmers and justify the continued implementation of the same given the positive effect it has on the economic well-being of the rice-consuming public through lower rice prices in the market.

We hope to see more of such kind of policy interventions and not “no-budget” excuses from the government in serving the interests of Filipinos.