Today there are 10 million rice farmers in the Philippines.

Extrapolating their number of

dependents, they constitute a big portion of the over 100 million Filipinos today, and they are in
trouble. Not much of their land can be reached by irrigation facilities and rain has not been heavy
on lands depending on rain for water. On the other hand, the rice tariffication law (RTL, RA 11203),
recently passed but lacking yet in publicized IRR (implementing rules and regulations) is a good
law. It thinks primarily about food security for 100 million Filipinos rather than just protecting the
parochial needs of some 10 million Filipino rice farmers. For decades, in the name of “protecting”
the farmers, rice importation was limited by quota restrictions. There was tons of money to be
made, reportedly by bureaucrats who approved the import allocation, the traders who cornered
the importation permits and which allegedly acted as a “cartel” in order to dictate market prices.
And, of course, there were the smugglers-scarcity being the mother of smuggling. Divine
intervention came last year when these market aberrations resulted in a price supply deficit and
prices of rice went to the roof-hiking inflation rate and negatively affecting the gross domestic
product (GDP). The government was shocked and, thus, the RTL was born. Today, the full effect
of the law has not yet been felt generally by retail consumers because as Agriculture Secretary
William D. Dar said “although some 2.5 million tons of rice have already been imported up to
August,” the traders are withholding their market entry in order to command higher prices. Dar
had warned them on September 4 that the full force of the law like “economic sabotage,” perhaps,
can be meted on these unscrupulous businessmen in Satan’s robe. The average production cost
of palay is at P12 per kilo. People from the mountains in other rice-growing parts of the country
say some greedy wholesalers there are buying farm-gate palay at only P8 per kilo stealthily citing
what is happening in some parts of Luzon. But Agriculture Committee Senate Chairman Sen.
Cynthia A. Villar debunked the case explaining that those being sold at P8 per kilo in Luzon were
those that have been severely damaged by the typhoon rain causing unwanted moisture. Buying
palay at P8 per kilo will certainly kill the poor farmer, who is forced to agree to this confiscatory
price just to be able to pay for the children’s schooling, have food money for the family and buy
the seeds for the next planting. Can one-fathom cruelty as offensive as this? There are those who
pretend to “help” the farmers in need but the financial arrangement is such that in the medium
term, the poor farmer will be so much buried in obligations that he is forced to give up his land as
payment. We have heard of those who are now landed “oligarchs” precisely by “helping” farmers
this way. Local government units should start buying palay at P20 per kilo (average) to stymie
these greedy traders. Dar said LGUs, after all, are autonomous and a mere resolution of their
local legislative bodies can authorize the LGU officials to borrow from LandBank and buy palay
from farmers at P15 per kilo to 17 per kilo (above production cost) and certainly way above the
“criminal” rate of P8 per kilo.