Truth About RTL! (4th of a Series) Senate RTL Version Ushered Fraud, Smuggling, Corruption

There are very important facts which people must know to understand why the Rice Tariffication Law, in its present form, failed to achieve the commitments made by the Economic Managers that it would bring down the price of rice by P7 per kilo and it would improve the productivity of rice farmers.
Fact #1: There were two versions of the Rice Tariffication Bill, the Congressional Version and the Senate Version.
The Congressional Version which was elevated to the Senate went through an exhaustive national consultations which started during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III and carried over to the term of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.
The Senate Version which was obviously authored by the Economic Team under then Finance Sec. Carlos G. Dominguez and introduced to the Senate through Sen. Cynthia Villar supplanted the House Version with accounts saying that the Congressmen were not allowed to question it during the Bi-Cameral Meeting of both houses.
Fact #2: The Congress Version of the RTL included provisions which retained government’s regulatory and supervisory powers over the rice industry through the National Food Authority (NFA).
The NFA, however, will no longer have the monopoly on the issuance of Import Permits to allow the entry of imported rice under the Quantitative Restriction (QR) system.
There was a shift from Quantitative Restriction to Rice Tariffication to fulfill our commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO) which meant that a graduated tariff schedule would be implemented to protect the local industry.
This meant that during harvest season, there would be higher Tariff imposed on imported rice and during the off-harvest or lean months, Tariff would be lowered to encourage importation.
Fact # 3: The Senate Version totally eliminated government supervisory and regulatory powers over the rice industry and declared an “Unimpeded Importation” as the norm to “flood” the market with rice to bring down prices.
Virtually anybody could import by just applying for Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Clearance from the Bureau of Plant Industry and paying the Customs duties and taxes.
The NFA was reduced to a Buffer Stocking Agency of the government no longer allowed to import rice for its buffer stocks, buying exclusively from farmers to maintain a level of stocks for emergency.
Under the Senate Version of the RTL, the NFA was no longer allowed to sell the subsidized P27/kilo rice for the poor and its buffer stocks could only be sold to government agencies during times of calamity and to private buyers when these are aging or nearing deterioration.
Fact #4: The Congress Version of the RTL was supported by rice industry stakeholders because they were involved in the consultations and the crafting of the proposed bill while the Senate Version was introduced directly by the Senate through the Committee On Agriculture Chairperson Sen. Cynthia Villar. Mock hearings were conducted but stakeholders’ were never listened to.
The poorly-studied Senate Version of the RTL virtually opened the windows to fraud, smuggling and corruption and placed the whole rice industry in the control of an informal group of big traders and importers collectively called the “Rice Cartel.”
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!