SMALL farmers can’t fathom why some dimwits in politics are calling for a supposed speedy process of rice importation. Our guess is that these dimwits have not even read the specific provisions of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) they passed with undue haste last year. If they did, they should have found out this hard truth — that the country, under the RTL, allows for reckless rice importation where supposed “rules” are superfluous. The Philippines has the most liberal rice import rules in the Southeast Asian region.

Here are the rules under the RTL.

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