Poultry growers belonging to the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) said the government must revert back the tariff on mechanically deboned meat (MDM) to 40 percent once the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice expires.
Ubra President Elias Jose M. Inciong also criticized the government for supposedly failing to conduct consultations with concerned stakeholders, such as poultry growers, before it decided to retain the existing 5-percent tariff on MDM.
“We still maintain that these are concessions which should be abolished upon the expiration of the QR for rice,” Inciong told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
Once the waiver on the special treatment for rice allowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) expires on June 30, he said Manila is no longer under any obligation to extend the grant of concessions.
Inciong issued the statement after Malacañang released on Monday Executive Order (EO) 20, which maintained the tariffs on rice and nonrice products covered by EO 190 signed in 2015. EO 190 indicated the concessions provided by the Philippines to extend its waiver on the special treatment for rice.
Under EO 190, the 5-percent tariff on MDM will go back to 40 percent upon the expiration of the waiver. The WTO granted the request of the Philippines to secure a waiver to extend its special treatment for rice in 2015, allowing it to keep its rice QR until June 30 this year.
In securing the waiver, Manila had to lower tariffs on offal and MDM, as well as dairy products, oil-seed meals and frozen potatoes.
“They maintained the 5-percent tariff without any hearing, consultation or coordination with the Department of Agriculture [DA]. They just assumed that it will benefit consumers,” Inciong said.
President Duterte said maintaining the 5-percent tariff on MDM would “ensure that the high economic growth currently being enjoyed by country is sustainable and inclusive, and will benefit future generations of Filipinos.”
“It is the policy of the govern-ment to create an enabling environment for the growth and international competitiveness of the Philippine industries that will create and preserve employment opportunities and increase incomes,” Durterte said in EO 20. Despite the expiration of the waiver for the extension of its special treatment for rice on June 30, DA officials said the rice QR would remain in place pending the amendment of Republic Act 8187, or the Agricultural Tarrification Act.