A bill seeking to grant the President power to declare a “state of national rice emergency” was filed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, filed House Bill 9030 or the Philippine Rice Emergency Act as a measure to help the government “address extreme cases of the dwindling supply and the soaring prices of rice”.

“As a short-term intervention, this bill seeks to give the government ample authority to address immediate concerns of a rice shortage, insulating the public of its adverse effects. In so doing, it provides the government enough breathing room in its quest to provide medium and long-term solutions such as productivity enhancement for farmers and provision of credit and logistical support,” Quimbo said in the explanatory note of her bill.

Under the bill, a national rice emergency could be declared if there is an extreme shortage, there is a sustained price increase of rice, and an extraordinary increase in the price of rice.

The measure also provides that the state of national emergency will take effect for a maximum of six months and be automatically lifted without needing the action of the President or Congress. The authority given to the President during the rice emergency can also be terminated through a joint resolution before lifting it.

The proposed law also mandates the President, through the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and other government agencies to provide subsidies to farmers and their groups, the “poorest and affected households”, and qualified rice retailers and traders? if the mandated price ceiling is lower than the wholesale price of rice and lead to profit losses.

Unused funds from different government agencies may also be reallocated to aid for farmers and affected sectors. Jaspearl Tan/DMS