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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
President Gloria Arroyo issued an order early
this month that encourages large firms to provide rice for their
employees through production or importation. She said either
corporate step will help cushion the impact of international price
increases of the staple on Filipinos. President Arroyo added that
production or importation will ensure that government-subsidized
rice is channeled to poor households.
In issuing Executive Order 721, the President
said big corporations could either provide their employees rice by
entering into a contract for local production, or by importing the
grains under the supervision of the National Food Authority (NFA).
The executive order will take effect within a
period to be recommended by the NFA but will be in effect for less
than two years after its issuance, Mrs. Arroyo added.
The order classifies large corporations as those
having at least 500 employees and have been reporting their earnings
during the last four years.
The President had instructed the NFA to generate
a list of large corporations that will be encouraged to produce or
import rice under the order.
Based on Mrs. Arroyo’s order, private
corporations could produce rice by leasing public agricultural
lands, entering into mutual agreements with private landowners, or
using idle lands they own.
The NFA will encourage participating companies
to sell any excess rice produced to the local market to help the
government address the current rice-production shortage. The country
is 90-percent self-sufficient in rice, which means it has to import
10 percent of its grain requirements.
In case a corporation chooses to import rice for
their employees, the NFA must be informed and existing laws on rice
importations should be followed.
The qualified corporations must also pay fees
and service charges from the rice importations to the government.
Importing companies will be eligible for fiscal
privileges. The President has ordered, too, several government
agencies to formulate a package of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives
as allowed by the order.
Mrs. Arroyo said the issuance of Executive Order
721 is in line with the government’s policy of ensuring enough
rice supply. It is also aimed, she added, at ensuring that
subsidized rice is sold to the people who need it the most, and to
prevent crooked traders from passing off NFA rice as commercial
rice.
The rice-production idea being encouraged by the
order is similar to the corporate rice-farming program of former
President Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s.
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