House panel asks DA to explain absence of rice safeguard action

A HOUSE of Representatives special committee has asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to explain why it has not pursued safeguard action for rice.

In a letter addressed to Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr., Special Committee on Globalization Vice Chairman Ryan S. Recto said farmer raised concerns about the uneven application of special safeguards.

“It was noted that while the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been proactive in exercising its mandate to protect non-agricultural industries through provisional and definitive safeguards, a similar level of protection has not been extended to local agricultural producers,” Mr. Recto said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by BusinessWorld.

Special safeguard measures allow the government to temporarily raise duties on specific imported products when their prices or volumes breach certain trigger levels, in order to protect domestic industries from cheap imports.

Under Republic Act No. 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act, the DA may request the Bureau of Customs to impose an additional duty on the product under review equivalent to not more than a third of its current duty.

In his letter, Mr. Recto asked the DA to explain why it has not resorted to safeguard measures for rice and other “sensitive” products.

The committee also sought more details on the administrative or technical constraints preventing the DA from prioritizing domestic production even though agricultural products are exempt from the “public interest” test under Section 5 of RA 8800.

The Committee said the DA’s response would help legislators fine-tune proposed amendments to the Safeguard Measures Act.

Leonardo Q. Montemayor, former Agriculture secretary and chairman of the Federation of Free Farmers, said it has been nearly five months since the group and MAGSASAKA Party-List petitioned the DA to initiate safeguard measures.

“Almost five months have elapsed since we petitioned Secretary Laurel to apply safeguard measures to protect rice farmers against the serious injury caused by the surge in rice imports in 2025,” he said in a Facebook message. “Until now, the good Secretary has not even started the investigation.”

The DA was asked via Viber to comment but had not replied at the deadline. — Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel