Rice tarrification critics neither foolish nor leftists

THIS is to reply to a recent article by Manila Times columnist Fermin Adriano titled “RTL, short-term impacts and the modern-day Luddites” (Aug. 6, 2020). Mr. Adriano was reacting to a study we had earlier released titled “Rice traders liberated winner and losers from the Rice Tarrification Law.”

Mr. Adriano’s long-winded explanations did not dispute our basic finding that farmers’ losses far exceeded consumers’ gains during the first year of the Rice Tarrification Law’s (RTL) implementation from March 2019 to February 2020. This outcome completely negated the assurances of RTL proponents that, while farmers would suffer reduced palay prices, their losses would be more than offset by benefits to consumers through lower rice prices.