The Rice Liberalization Act or Republic Act No. 11203 has been signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on February 14, 2019 after intensive consultations with government agencies and rice stakeholders nationwide. The law amends the two-decade-old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 and replaces the quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice imports with tariff that will be used to support local farmers. It also frees the domestic rice market from too much government intervention to ensure the ready availability of rice at relatively lower price for accessibility of the greater majority of the population. This is a measure expected to help achieve the Filipino people’s AmBisyon of a maginhawang buhay – a life free from hunger and poverty.
In line with this, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is taking the lead in crafting the IRR of the law along with the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Agriculture, and other concerned government agencies to ensure the country’s smooth transition to a new rice regime. This draft IRR takes into account the feedback and concerns brought up by various stakeholders during the drafting of the bill and after it was signed into law.
For greater transparency and inclusivity, the public is also given another opportunity to comment and provide inputs to the draft IRR which can be accessed here: Second draft IRR of RA 11203 with comments from NFA Council as of February 22, 2019.
You may submit your comments/inputs through the Google Online Form below.
Please note that this portal will only be open until 5:00PM of March 4, 2019. The government would like to ensure that the IRR will be ready soon after the law takes effect on March 5, 2019.
You may also download the Rice Liberalization Act (RA 11203) here.
Objectives of the Rice Liberalization Act (RA 11203)
- Fulfill our international commitment when we joined the World Trade Organization in 1995. Replace the QR on rice with another form of protection that is more transparent and generate revenues to support the sector – or a tariff.
- Ensure the availability of rice in the domestic market for the accessibility of greater majority of the population by allowing more private traders (big or small) to participate in importing rice.
- Lower domestic rice prices to levels that would be affordable to greater majority of the population.
- Make domestic market function effectively and efficiently with much reduced/no government intervention.
- Provides farmers equivalent protection with the imposition of 35 percent or higher tariff rates on rice imports and preferential assistance to rice farmers, adversely affected by tariffication.
- Provide opportunity for farmers to earn more in the world market. The law also lifted the restriction on rice exports to encourage farmers to produce much better quality heirloom/ traditional rice geared to exports.
Learn more about the Rice Liberalization Act through our infographics below.
