MANILA — Several lawmakers are eyeing to give the government the power to intervene in the rice market to stabilize its prices.

READ: Rice prices to go down by second half of the year, Agri chief says

In a hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo made a pitch for her proposed Philippine Rice Emergency Response Act.

The bill seeks to empower the National Food Authority (NFA) to bolster buffer stocks through expedited imports supported by temporary adjustments in tariff rates.

“So paglilinaw, hindi natin pinapalawak ang poder ng NFA. Currently the NFA only manages buffer stocks. The proposal is for the NFA to import only for purposes of buffering,” Quimbo said.

It also aims to introduce flexibility in the management of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to boost farmers’ competitiveness and strengthen the regulations against hoarding and price manipulation. It also pushes for allowing the temporary suspension of rice tariff rates to facilitate immediate and cost-effective rice imports under a very specific situation where the landed cost of rice continues to be higher than the price of unmilled rice.

READ: Prices of rice continue to rise, according to watch group

Quimbo pointed out it is the trading cost that makes rice expensive and called on the government to intervene and sell rice directly to consumers and introduce competition in a crisis situation.

“We are making the government the competitive constraint. Kasi ngayon, yun ang problema dahil sa mga traders. So we are making government, in a crisis situation, the source of competition,” Quimbo said, pointing out there are funds are available to address the problem.

When asked, the Philippine Competition Commission said investigating rice cartels is one of its priority areas but declined to give details to avoid alerting those subject of the investigation.

ACT CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo reiterated his call to allow the NFA to sell rice to the public and use its funds to subsidize rice for Filipinos.

“Ibalik na ang pagbebenta ng NFA ng bigas sa mga palengke tutal maraming pondo, imbes na sayangin, hindi naman ginagasta taun-taon meron silang pondo. Bakit hindi i-subsidize ito para lahat yung mga gustong magbenta ng bigas ng NFA, kumuha ng license ng NFA,” Tulfo said.

Bulacan Rep. Augustina Pancho said the government should use its funds to buy rice directly from farmers.

“Dapat ang magsasaka bilhin na rekta ng NFA yung palay, basa man ito o tuyo o may moisture content dapat bilhin ng NFA. Saan po nga naman gagamitin yung hawak nilang pera e meron naman palang pera para i-subsidize ng government,” Pancho said.

Agriculture Undersecretary Christopher Morales clarified that under the existing law, the available P19 billion excess tariff collected can only be used for the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program, land titling, crop diversification and crop insurance.

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro meanwhile wants to reinstate the regulatory function of NFA to address the problem of rice cartels and profiteering and enable it to monitor warehouses.

“Para bumaba ang presyo ng bigas ilapit talaga ang farmers at saka yung consumers para mawala yung greedy profiteering ng mga traders. Tapos sell directly to consumers kaya nga hindi naman natin maaasahan ang Kadiwa ang experience nga dyan noong panahon ng Marcos Senior ay hindi naman naging effective so ibalik talaga ang function ng NFA para sa regulation,” Castro said.