It is an undeniable fact that our society will crumble without the help of our beloved Filipino farmers. They are the ones who supply us with many products especially the food loved by all Filipnos; rice! We owe so much to them yet here we are making their lives much harder than it already is.
President Duterte recently signed the Republic Act 11203 more commonly known as the Rice Tarification law. This law’s aims to “to address the urgent need to improve the availability of rice in the country, to prevent artificial rice shortage, reduce the prices of rice in the market, and curtail the prevalence of corruption and cartel domination in the rice industry.”
The implementation of this law will cause rice prices to go down almost 7 pesos from P70 per kilo to around P63. Although lower rice prices may seem nice to hear because it will mean that we will be able to buy more rice for a lower price, the law does not take into consideration the negative effects particularly towards our farmers.
According to the basic economic law of supply and demand, if we increase the supply of an item, the demand will decrease therefore decreasing prices. Since this law has also enabled almost an unlimited supply of imported rice, the supplies will go up and the demand and prices will go down.
This will lead to more Filipinos having a higher demand for cheaper imported rice. Since this law has allowed more imports of rice from other countries in Asia like Vietnam, Thailand and China. This has lead to the Philippines becoming the world’s top importer of rice according to the Inquirer.
What does this mean for our farmers?
This means that Filipinos will have a greater access to imported rice causing more competition in the agricultural sector forcing farmers to lower their prices to keep up with foreign competition.
With prices lowered, our farmers will be earning significantly less. This will make their lives much more difficult than it already is. Their earnings from selling rice will go down causing them to have to endure a life of poverty.
The republic act was signed this February 2019. In lieu of the signing, many people have taken to the streets to protest against the implementation of this law. One of these organizations is the Bantay Bigas.
“This will turn Filipinos into beggars of imported rice. We all have witnessed this law causing bankruptcy to rice farmers, and this will lead to displacement and ultimately declined productivity,” Amihan secretary-general and Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said in a press statement.
With this law in effect, people are still arguing whether or not this law is beneficial for the Filipino people and our country as a whole. There are those arguing that lower prices will be beneficial and there are those arguing that we are getting too reliant on imported rice.
What we really know is that this law will forever change Philippine society and our perspective on rice.
Story by Jose Mari Gabriel Tumanan
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