Bicam OKs rice tarrification billhome/News/Nation/Bicam OKs rice tarrification billTHE bicameral conference committee (bicam) tasked to harmonize provisions of Senate Bill 1998 and House Bill 7735 or the Rice Tarrification Bill approved a consolidated version of the measure on Thursday. Sen. Cynthia Villar, head of the Senate agriculture and food committee, said the harmonized version would be submitted for ratification by Congress. Once ratified, an enrolled bill will be transmitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signing. Villar is the principal sponsor of SB 1998 or the bill that seeks to replace the quantitative import restrictions on rice with tariffs, lifting the quantitative restrictions on rice, and creating the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or Rice Fund. It will be more difficult to deal with trade sanctions if we don’t abide by the agreement,” Villar pointed out.

Source: Manila Times November 22, 2018 16:10 UTC