President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marocs Jr. junked the proposal to temporarily reduce the imposed tariff on rice, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Tuesday, September 26.
In a press statement, PCO said Marcos disclosed this after the sectoral meeting that was attended by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and Department of Agriculture (DA) officials including Undersecretaries Leocadio Sebastian and Mercedita Sombilla.
"We decided with the agriculture and economic managers that it was not the right time to lower the tariff rates because the projection of world rice prices is that it will go down," he said as quoted by the PCO.
"So, this is not the right time to lower tariffs. Tariffs are generally lowered when the price is going up,” Marcos added.
According to PCO, Balisacan, Sebastian, and Sombilla unanimously agreed that "it was not the right [to] lower tariff rates because of the downtrend of rice prices in the world market."
Earlier this month, the Department of Finance (DOF) recommended lowering the rice tariff rates to zero percent or to 10 percent.
DOF Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the slash in the current 35 percent tariff would hamper the surging rice prices in local markets and stores.
NEDA had also proposed a reduced rice traffic to "address the increasing prices of basic commodities."
Meanwhile, PCO said the President has yet to decide on the lifting of the executive order (EO) No. 39 that set price ceilings on regular and well-milled rice nationwide.
“Pag-aralan natin mabuti,” Marcos said as quoted by the agency.
