THE PHILIPPINES must seek more rice deals with countries like India and Vietnam since the country’s grain production still needs improvement, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian told a forum at the Senate on Thursday.

“It is important to strive for 98 or even 100% rice sufficiency, but in the meantime, it is important that we have concrete agreements with countries that export rice,” the senator, speaking in mixed English and Filipino, said.

He said that the Philippines still has ways to go in being self-sufficient in its rice production since it imports about 3 million metric tons (MT) a year.

Last Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture said rice prices are expected to stay high until midyear as the agriculture sector reels from the shocks of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Agricultural damage caused by El Niño has risen to P2.63 billion, affecting 54,203 farmers and 53,879 hectares of farmland, based on the agency’s data.

The Bureau of Plant Industry has said Philippine rice imports reached 995,841 as of March 21.

The US Department of Agriculture expects Philippine rice imports to reach 4 million MT this year.

“We should help revive the agriculture sector since due to the extreme heat, it would take time for them to do so,” Mr. Gatchalian said in mixed English and Filipino. “The sector needs to have funding for our farmers to livelihoods and for them to revive their crops.”

In October, India gave the Philippines a quota of 295,000 MT of non-basmati white rice, after imposing restrictions on exporting the grain to ensure the sufficiency of domestic supply.

Vietnam in January agreed to supply 1.5 to 2 million MT of white rice to the Philippines “at a competitive and affordable price” for five years. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

THE SENATE Ways and Means Committee chairman said he plans on wrapping up consultations on a bill seeking to simplify tax rates for passive income and financial intermediaries by May.

“Our target to sponsor the PIFITA (Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act) bill will be around May, and we will target to finish that within the year,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian told a forum at the Senate on Thursday.

“It’s a very complex and comprehensive bill. It has many facets. But its objective, number one, is to harmonize all the passive income rates.”

Earlier in the day, the committee and officials from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Finance convened in a closed-door technical working group to refine the measure.

Mr. Gatchalian said the body is consulting industry players on whether the government should do away with documentary stamp tax on all financial transactions, noting that most of the country’s Southeast Asian peers do not charge entities for these stamps.

“In some regions, in some countries in the region, they don’t charge documentary stamps on financial transactions. We charge documentary stamp tax on all of our financial transactions,” he said.

He also said he was not in favor of introducing new taxes this year, saying it would be better for Congress to harmonize and update current tax rates.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has said the government does not plan on imposing new taxes this year and would only push “only what is on the table.”

In February, Finance Assistant Secretary Karlo Fermin S. Adriano told a committee hearing that it had revised its proposal to keep tax rates on interest income at 20% instead of the gradual reduction to 15% previously.

Keeping the rate at 20% instead of the gradual decrease by 2028 would generate about P30.8 billion in revenues, he said.

The adjusted tax reform proposal will drop the previously projected P83 billion in foregone revenue from changes to taxes on passive income, financial intermediaries, financial transactions and excise tax on pick-up trucks to P12.2 billion in revenue, the Finance official said.

“Harmonization, financial inclusion and at the same time competitiveness,” Mr. Gatchalian said, listing what the bill aims to achieve. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

PAPUA New Guinea (PNG) Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko is expected to meet with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo on Thursday to discuss bolstering ties in tourism, labor, agriculture and trade, among others.

“The two ministers will likewise exchange views on regional developments of mutual concern to both countries,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.

A policy consultation mechanism, which was agreed upon through a memorandum of understanding signed in the United States in November last year, is also expected to take place during the meeting.

“The extent of bilateral ties is productive and rewarding; however, there is scope for both countries to further expand cooperation in business, trade and investment, tourism and downstream processing,” Mr. Tkatchenko said in a statement.

The mechanism will entail discussions on regional and international issues that concern both the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

Based on DFA data, there are more than 35,000 Filipinos in Papua New Guinea, who are mostly working as managers and supervisors.

“PNG and Philippines have abundant natural resources and can learn from each other’s experiences through mutual cooperation specifically in the Fisheries, Agriculture, tourism and downstream processing,” Papua New Guinea’s top diplomat said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez