WELCOME kay Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ang panukala ng Vietnam na five-year rice importation arrangement.

Para sa Pangulo makatutulong ito na patatagin ang suplay ng bigas at presyo sa Pilipinas sa gitna ng kasalukuyang pabago-bago sa suplay ng nasabing produkto.

Ipinanukala ni Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sa bilateral meeting kasama si Pangulong Marcos ang paglikha ng five-year rice supply agreement ukol sa ‘Vietnam exporting rice to the Philippines.’

Sa bilateral meeting sa sidelines ng 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit sa Jakarta, sinabi ni Pham na, “I would suggest that the Ministries of Trade and Agriculture of the two countries will work together so that we can come up with a five-year agreement on supply of rice and actually… the rice will be determined by the market.”

Bilang tugon, sinabi ng Pangulo na kinikilala niya ang kasalukuyang pabago-bago sa merkado at ang pangangailangan para sa adjustment ng bawat bansa.

“However, the suggestion of a longer term arrangement is an important one because just having that as an assurance will stabilize the situation, not only for the Philippines, but for all of us in the region,” ang sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos kay Pham.

“But we will work continuously. We have managed what we have before [inaudible] to an agreement in terms of the rice importation by the Philippines and I am very confident that we will once again come to a consensus and agree,” dagdag na pahayag nito.

Matatandaang, lumagda ang Pilipinas ng isang Memorandum of Agreement ukol sa Supply of Vietnamese Rice to the Philippines noong May 2008, kung saan ang ibinenta ng Vietnam ng bigas sa Pilipinas ay umabot ng hanggang 1,500,000 metriko tonelada ng Vietnamese rice mula 2008 hanggang 2010.

Subalit dahil naipasa ang Rice Tariffication Act (RA 110203) noong March 2019, naging liberalisado ang commercial rice importation ng Pilipinas, pinalitan ang quantitative restrictions ng general tariff.

(CHRISTIAN DALE)