The Rice Tariffication Law has dragged the gate price of palay down to as low as P7 per kilo, affecting millions of local rice farmers who are now among the poorest in the nation.  With barely enough to turn a season’s profit, Filipino farmers are beginning to suffer in the bitter irony of going hungry. Now more than ever should we heed their cry for help, defend their rights, and stand against cruel policies that for so long had set this nation back from progress. 

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            We must understand that the true gravity of the situation lies in retrospect; hence, we must first ask ourselves what just went wrong in the past before we are able to fix them in the future. The roots of this issue can be traced back to the 2018 rice crisis where shortages in supply in addition to the controversial TRAIN law have forcedrice prices to reach a staggering three-year high.  This incident gave the government more thanenough reasons to pass the Rice Tariffication Lawin hopes ofbringing affordable rice back in the market and imposing a globalization-oriented trade policy that will benefit our consumers. While promising on the surface level, the law has recently received critcism for its proponents have allegedly turned a blind eye on its possible implications—such as the surplus on imports, plummeting rice prices, and the reduced demand for local palay.

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            Years of economic mismanagement under Duterte has manifested itself as problems continue to pile one on top of the other—often pinning our farmers at the losing end. With rampant economic injustice, it is evident that the Rice Tarrification Law isyet another addition to Duterte’s long list of “anti-poor” policies; the very same list that includes some of the administration’s most controversial actions such as the TRAIN law and OplanTokhang.

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            At first glance, the solution to this matter is simple—repealing the Rice Tarrification Law. Its repeal guarantees the return of higher tariffs and stricter regulations to prevent the surge of cheap imported rice in the country, and in turn, help farmers and their rice get the higher ground they deserve. However, if it was only that simple then our country would’ve recovered by now,if not for lawmakers like Senator Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate’s Agriculture and Food Committee, who continues to hold the entire agriculture industry hostage by backing bills like the TRAIN law and the Rice Tariffication Law. With the rise of people like Sen. Villar, it’s about time we condemn these capitalist oligarchs who pride themselves as voices of the people when in fact they can’t even support our local farmers and the poor who are most affected by their cruel policies.

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            Nonetheless, repealing the law for good can only do so much. While this government likes to think that every mistake it does can be undone with ease—there are always irreversible damages that we can never simply undo. 

We will soon realize that the Rice Tariffication Law has already begun an endless spiral that will drag our economy down unless paired with urgent action. First, in light of shortages and increased demand, the law has allowed for the surge of cheaper imported rice to flood the market, forcing prices of local rice to plummet. Second, without the necessary income to provide for the next season, incentives to plant local rice are bound to disappear. Thirdly, without the incentives, even less farmers will plant rice, further worsening the rice shortage in the country as it repeats the cycle of agricultural unsustainability.Without long-term legislation and adequate government support, this spiral might have detrimental outcomes for our heavily agricultural-based economy in the future.

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            In the end, it doesn’t have to be a “hunger game” where consumers and farmers are pitted against each other in the battle for what price is just right. If we want genuine change, we have to work together to reach a fair and common ground for all—and while that’s not really easy and requires a great amount of struggle, it’s surely the least we could do to repay and thank our farmers out there who have tirelessly fed and raised this country from the ground.