PALACE CLARIFIES: RICE IMPORTS TO GO ON
A worker carries a sack of imported rice at a warehouse in Divisoria, Manila, on Monday. Malacañang officials said there is no order yet for the Department of Agriculture to suspend the importation of rice during the harvest season, as calls mounted for such following reports of multibillion-peso income losses to local farmers.
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
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HE prevailing liberalized rice importation regime will continue for now, Malacañang clarified on Monday, amid mounting calls for a halt to importation after the losses to local farmers were reported to have surged beyond the worst forecasts, with one study putting it at over P60 billion. In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said President Duterte has yet to issue an official order to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to cease the nonquota purchase of rice abroad under the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law, which took effect in March. “As for this time, there is no order to stop rice importation given the Secretary
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[William] Dar of the Department of Agriculture per the latter,” Panelo said. He issued the pronouncement after GMA News came out with a report that Duterte had already “ordered the suspension of rice importation” to help local farmers, who are now forced to sell their rice at rock-bottom prices as imported rice flood the market. “We have no knowledge of this,” Dar told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview, referring to the report of the supposed haltimports order posted by other media. Dar declined to comment further as he awaits further instruction from Duterte on the matter. Rice farmers have been appealing for government intervention as they suffer significant loses because of the effect of the RTL. The BusinessMirror earlier reported that
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 Vol. 15 No. 40
PHL rises in talent index but trails peers in Asean
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By Cai U. Ordinario
@caiordinario
HE Philippines improved its ranking by six notches in the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Talent Rankings (WTR) in 2019.
The country was considered one of the biggest “climbers” in the ranking as it improved its position to 49th out of 63 countries in 2019 from 55th in 2018. However, the country remained the laggard among its Asean peers as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia
and Thailand took the 10th, 22nd, 41st, and 43rd spot in this year’s ranking. “The WTR ranks countries based on their ability to attract, develop, and retain a talented pool of human resources that businesses can employ,” IMD and its Philippine part-
ner, Asian Institute of Management (AIM) RSN Policy Center for Competitiveness, said in a statement. The 2019 edition ranked countries using 32 criteria grouped into three factors—Investment and Development, Appeal, and Readiness. The Philippines improved its
$376 (₧18,800) The Philippines’s total public investment per student—a low level that made it rank poorly in this aspect of the global talent index, at 61st out of 63 countries, despite rising six notches overall
ranking in all three factors. However, the factor where the country has consistently been a poor performer is Investment and Development. The factor measures the level of investment in and development of domestic, homegrown human resources. This year, the country ranked 61st out of 63 countries. “This represents a one-place improvement from 2018, but this factor has consistently ranked in the 60s,” IMD-AIM said. See “Talent index,” A2
the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) estimated farmers lost P61.77 billion because of the steep decline in farm-gate prices for rice. While such losses had been foreseen by the RTL authors—and provisions were made for a P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to cushion the impact—the deep cuts in farmers’ incomes were apparently not expected. This was compounded by claims in some quarters that the expected tradeoff, i.e., the general public can benefit from much cheaper rice as those from other countries enter the local market, is not happening as expected. There are observations that retail rice prices have not declined, while local farmers incomes plunged from record-low farm-gate quotations for palay.
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MWSS APPROVES WAWA BULK WATER PROJECT By VG Cabuag @villygc
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HE group of billionaire Enrique Razon and Oscar Violago on Monday said regulator Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has approved their Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project. The final approval of the remaining documents, which authorized MWSS Administrator Emmanuel Salamat to sign on behalf of the agency, was made during the MWSS Board of Trustees meeting held on November 14, the company said. The Wawa joint venture project is between Razon’s Prime Infra and businessman Oscar Violago’s San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders Group. “As promised to the public, the board has already given its Final Approval for the Wawa Bulk Water Project. This is good news for everyone, not only for the proponents and stakeholders, but more importantly for the MWSS consumers. This will ensure water security for
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@joveemarie
GROUP of far mers on Monday called on the government for an additional palay procurement and price support as the impact of the rice tariffication law (RTL) appeared to have been underestimated. The National Movement for Food Sovereignty (NMFS) expressed its dismay on the termination of the process of studying the imposition of safeguard duties on imported rice, the surge rice imports in the country, and the continuous plummeting of palay farm-gate prices. Trinidad Domingo, chairman of Katipunan ng Bagong Pilipina (Kabapa) and co-convenor of the NMFS, said the National Food Authority (NFA) must be provided with an additional budget for palay procurement in order to bring back the P20 per kg price support. “The government should have increased the palay procurement capacity of NFA in order for the agency to absorb at the minimum 10 percent of the country’s palay production,” she said. Also, Domingo said the NFA should be provided with more warehouses and dryers. According to Domingo, NFA warehouses in Central Luzon cannot accommodate all of the farmers trying to sell their palay.
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“This leaves farmers no choice but to sell their produce to rice traders at a lower price. NFA buys dried palay at P19 per kg, while traders buy them for as low as P10 to P12/ kg,” she said. “Moreover, the NFA cannot accept wet palay as they do not have enough dryers to dry all of the wet palay brought to them for sale. This also leaves farmers the option to sell at as low as P7 to P12 per kg to traders,” Domingo added. NMFS wants Congress to immediately repeal the RTL, which took effect in March 2019, to protect the livelihood of 2.4 million rice farmers in the country. “As it is still harvest time, palay prices have already dived down to as low as P7 per kg in some parts of Central Luzon,” the group said. The group has demanded that the rice importation be halted immediately and implementation of the RTL be suspended while palay harvests are ongoing.
DOF, DA: No to repeal or revision
Last week, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), however, said “there is no inclination to repeal, revise, or suspend” the RTL. The government agencies said the current situation of the rice industry merely constitutes “shortterm transition challenges” and See “Farmers,” A2
See “MWSS,” A2
NGCP: Grid facilities ready for storm
Farmers seek more funds for price support, hit RTL By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
the greater Metro Manila area in the coming years,” MWWS Chairman Reynaldo Velasco said. The approval came after a favorable opinion given by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel on November 7. This approval is the remaining document to make the project fully effective and enable the project proponent to proceed in the development work, Prime Infra said. “I would like to assure the public that MWSS is doing everything in its power to address the current water crisis. We are committed to make sure that we have enough supply to meet the demands of the growing population in Metro Manila. I am sure the other government agencies who are mandated to issue permits will follow suit as this is a priority project to solve the water crisis,” Velasco said. The Wawa Dam Project will supply 80 million liters per day of water in 2021 and more than 500 MLD in 2025.
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BIGGEST LANTERN OF HOPE Children get their early Christmas gifts from Santa Claus as SM City Pampanga kicks off the first night of its “Biggest Lantern of Hope” campaign. More than 25,000 shoppers joined in the much-awaited celebration, where the tallest ferris wheel in the country transformed into a giant lantern of colorful lights and sparkles in sync with the most-loved Christmas melodies. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
‘ERC’s year-end approval of PSA to lower power cost’ By Lenie Lectura @llectura
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HE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is expected to approve some of the pending powersupply agreements (PSA) applications next month. According to Victor Dimagiba, president of consumer advocate Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI), ERC Commissioner
Catherine Maceda, in a public consultation, had committed to the approval of the PSAs within the year. “This is encouraging news hearing that the ERC will already act on the PSAs within the year, because this will mean additional power capacity to the grid as soon as possible. “We hope that ERC will live up to its promise and commitment to already act on the PSAs and approve this
much-needed capacity for the grid. The supply is important because this will mean reliable power at low costs,” said Dimagiba. If the PSAs are approved as soon as possible, such will mitigate increases in spot market prices as this would ensure entry of additional supply and reliable operation of power plants. “That is why we must fast-track the PSA approval,” said Dimagiba. See “ERC,” A8
HE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said Monday that it has implemented the necessary preparations and precautions to minimize the impact of Tropical Storm Ramon on transmission operations and facilities. Preparations included ensuring the reliability of communications equipment, availability of hardware materials and supplies necessary for the repair of damages to facilities, as well as the positioning of line crews in strategic areas, to facilitate immediate restoration work. NGCP’s Integrated Disaster Action Plan (IDAP) prescribes these and other procedures to ensure the readiness of all power transmission facilities expected to be affected by the passage of the weather disturbance. Meanwhile, Solar Philippines Tarlac Corp. (SPTC) was allowed to connect its 100-megawatt (MW) solar farm to the Concepcion substation of the NGCP via the construction of a new transmission line. The Energy Regulatory Commission approved the transmission project provided that NGCP will operate the dedicated transmission facility. Lenie Lectura
US 50.5920 n japan 0.4650 n UK 65.3547 n HK 6.4652 n CHINA 7.2200 n singapore 37.1973 n australia 34.4683 n EU 55.9193 n SAUDI arabia 13.4919
Source: BSP (18 November 2019 )