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TAPPING
the East Asia Emergency Rice Reserve (EAERR) for more
rice requirements may not be viable for the
Philippines
as the government needs to declare that there is an
“emergency” before it could source more rice from the
stockpile.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said this is one of the
requirements of the EAERR scheme conceptualized by the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which
the
Philippines
is a member.
“There
is a standby volume that we can tap. But [some
countries] want a certification that there is an
emergency [in that] we can no longer source from any
other suppliers. The rice supply is really there, it’s
just that the prices are so steep,” said Yap in a
telephone interview. Meanwhile, senators welcomed the
appointment of
Yap as “rice czar” but voiced concern that dispensing new titles
to
Palace appointees may not bring immediate solutions to
the looming food crisis.
“Any
effort to alleviate the scarcity of rice supply is
welcome,” Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said even as he
acknowledged that
Yap would still be the Agriculture secretary and the new title
was “just to emphasize that he is the lead Cabinet
member tasked to deal with the rice issue.”
Still,
Enrile added, it would greatly help bring about instant
solutions to the rice problem “if you make him [Yap] a miracle man.”
National
Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jessup Navarro, for
his part, said some Asean member-countries have “certain
requirements” and the Philippine government is still in
negotiation with them to be able to access more rice
under the EAERR scheme.
So far,
only
Vietnam has agreed to commit 10,000 metric tons (MT) to the
Philippines under the EAERR.
Earlier,
Yap said the Philippine government is keen on tapping
the EAERR to fill up part of its import volume
requirement. The
Philippines is
seeking to import 2.1 million metric tons (MMT) of rice
to plug the supply shortfall and to stock up on rice
during the lean months of July to September, when there
is no palay to harvest.
The DA
chief said the “most realistic” volume that the
Philippines can tap from the EAERR is anywhere between
25,000 to 40,000 MT.
The
EAERR is a program conceived to stabilize the price of
the rice in the region, especially during calamities and
emergencies such as sudden tightness in supply due to
floods or droughts.
It was
approved by Asean in a meeting in October 2002, and
pilot-tested in 2004 up to 2007. Its implementation was
extended twice.
Earlier,
Navarro said some 200,000 MT of rice has been committed
under the scheme by countries belonging to Asean+3
(China, Japan, Korea).
The
Philippines has been scrambling to source as much rice
as it can to ensure the supply of the staple.
The
government is practically racing against time to
contract all the volume it requires so that these would
arrive in time for the lean months. Failure to do so
could cause prices to skyrocket to unprecedented levels.
Out of
the 2.1 MMT it is seeking to import, the Philippines has
so far contracted 1.1 MMT of rice. Another 325,750 MT
could be awarded this week to the bidders during the
April 17 tender, bringing the total to about 1.5 MMT.
The
Philippine government has scheduled a tender for 500,000
MT on May 5, but it remains to be seen whether bidders
would be able to come up with the required volume.
Philippine officials said they are looking at the
possibility of hiking the volume the government will
tender on May 5, or offering another tender also in May.
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