MANILA - Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday said she is open to the abolition of the National Food Authority when a law is enacted to impose duties on rice imports.

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Arroyo also believes that the agency should import the staple grain "at this point in time."

"They have to import and when we tariffy importation, maybe NFA can be abolished because then it will be liberalized so it’s something that can be debated on," she told reporters at the sidelines of her visit to an Aeta community in Pampanga.

"It can stay, it can go. To me, I’m neither here nor there about the situation but right now the most important thing is we should be able to import rice and make it arrive before October," she said.

Arroyo said she will check on the status of the measure in the Senate seeking to impose taxes on rice imports since the House of Representatives has passed its version.

She said when she saw Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea during budget deliberations earlier this week, she relayed that during the administration's economic managers' discussion, "everything has been addressed except the importation of rice."

"He said exactly from the budget hearing he was going to to Malacanang to have a meeting on the importation of rice," said Arroyo.

Arroyo also said that government will relax import restrictions on fish and meat, according to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

Calls for the abolition of the NFA have snowballed following the increase in prices of rice as well as the discovery of weevil-infested imported rice.

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In Zamboanga City, a shortage drove up rice prices at P50 to P70 per kilo, prompting local officials to declare a state of calamity. The NFA has augmented the supply of government-subsidized rice in the southern city.

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