THE National Food Authority (NFA) warned traders over the weekend to be vigilant against individuals claiming to be officials of the agency who are extorting money in exchange for the issuance of rice import permits.
NFA Administrator Renan B. Dalisay said there have been reports of a person using his name offering to facilitate the issuance of import permits under the minimum-access volume (MAV) scheme in exchange for fees.
“No person in the agency is authorized to collect such fees, as the NFA is transparent in all its transactions,” Dalisay added in a statement.
He said import permits will be processed and released as long as rice importers have complied with the documentary requirements.
To prepare for the adverse effects of the lingering El Niño, importers from the private sector are authorized to ship a total volume of 805,200 metric tons (MT) this year. Shipments under the MAV scheme are slapped a tariff of 35 percent.
Dalisay said the volume of importation and general guidelines have been released by the NFA, indicating the eligibility requirements, allowed rice varieties, validation of documents, processing fee and other procedures.
For purposes of transparency, Dalisay said the list of importer-applicants for MAV importation, along with other information, such as the volume, source country, authorized representative and status of their application, are also published in the NFA web site.
Dalisay appealed to rice traders to report to the NFA any person claiming to be the NFA administrator or any information against any extortion or bribery case under the agency.
Rice importation under the MAV is pursuant to Republic Act 8178, also known as the Agricultural Tariffication Act, where the government shall adopt “the use of tariffs in lieu of nontariff import restrictions to protect local producers of agricultural products, except in the case of rice, which will continue to have quantitative import restrictions.”
The MAV is the quantity of a specific agricultural product that is allowed to be imported in a MAV allotment year at the in-quota tariff rate or at a lower tariff as committed by the Philippines to the World Trade Organizationunder the Uruguay Round Final Act.
The MAV for rice is exclusively imported by the NFA, in accordance with Presidential Decree 4 and Philippine commitments under the Uruguay Round Final Act. Under the law, the NFA can allocate MAV rice importation quota to the private sector.