00:00The House Committee on Agriculture and Food agreed that there are sufficient safeguards in their proposed amendment to the Rice Tariffication Law to avoid any type of corruption or fraud.
00:22From the committee, the amendment was included in the plenary and next week, it is expected to be included in the third and final reading of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.
00:31In a press conference, Agriculture Committee Chair Mark Inverga stated that the amendment is also for the benefit of the Filipinos.
00:40If it is approved, it is expected that there will be cheaper rice in the market through the National Food Authority.
00:48As of now, there are still some senators here, but if Inverga agrees...
01:18Importation is merely a last resort here. It is true that there are many issues, but again, we know that the NFA has the technical know-how, the expertise.
01:30Another official of the House of Representatives also expressed concern about the amendment.
01:35They said that they will also monitor their oversight function.
01:40I know that there are many issues, that's why we will go through the debates and the process so that the questions will be answered, not only by the legislators, but also by the general public.
01:53And maybe for the Senate and of course also for the Congress, that's why we have oversight so that we can see if the amendments that we will include in this law will be implemented correctly.
02:07House Speaker Martin Romualdez also gave the importance of the amendment to the Rice Tariffication Law.
02:14He said that the passing of the RTL Amendment Bill is a big step for our food security and economic stability.
02:21In a statement by the Department of Agriculture, they also emphasized their support for the amendment to the RTL.
02:27This step is also important so that the implementation of the price cap that was passed by the government can be avoided.
02:35We don't want these measures because of the price cap.
02:39It's good in the beginning, but in the long term, it will have a negative economic impact on our country.
02:46If there will be an opportunity for the NFA to intervene, the effect will be fast.
02:53Because in the beginning, it was able to provide P27, but we're not expecting that price.
03:00But we're expecting that the price of the NFA will be relatively lower than the prevailing market price.
03:06Rice is now a part of the lives of many Filipinos.
03:10That's why the lawmakers are insisting that they will really focus on lowering the price of rice.
03:16Mela Lesmora for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
