SI>iTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 1 0 7 1 
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INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The National Food Authority exercises both regulatory and proprietary 
functions over the grain sector, setting import quantities and at the same time 
serving as the sole importer of the authorized volume of imports. Unfortunately, 
such interventions in the market over the years has created severe distortions in 
the rice market, contributing, among others, to the poor productivity of the rice 
sector over the years, the rice supply gap, and the increasing cost of government 
actions to fill such gaps and artificially stabilize rice prices and supply. 
This proposed measure seeks to streamline government intervention in 
the rice sector by removing the rice importation function from the NFA and 
allowing the participation of the private sector in rice importation: Allowing market 
forces to work in the importation, stockpiling and marketing of rice will allow for 
scarce government resources to be re-allocated away from costly price 
stabilization functions to more productive investment in rice research and 
development, extension services and irrigation. 
Specifically, this bill proposes the transformation of NFA from a grain 
marketing monopoly to a public regulatory agency focused primarily on 
maintaining the buffer stock requirement of the country at both national and local 
levels which will allow the country to guard against price volatility due to natural 
calamities or emergencies. Along with this, the NFA shall continue other 
regulatory functions which include the licensing and registration of rice importers, 
allocation of import quotas among licensed rice traders, maintenance of 
marketing information dissemination systems and the inspection of stored food 
grains for the purpose of taking inventory. This bill further mandates the transfer 
of duplicative functions of the NFA, including the stabilization of prices and the 
licensing of warehouses to appropriate government agencies or local 
government units, 
In view of the foregoing, urgent approval of this bill is earnestly requested. 
Senator 


SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 1 0 71 
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INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
AN ACT 
TO STRENGTHEN AND REORIENT THE MANDATE OF THE NATIONAL 
FOOD AUTHORITY IN ORDER TO ENSURE FOOD SUFFICIENCY, FOR THAT 
PURPOSE RATIONALIZING ITS FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
CHAPTER 1 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 
SECTION 1 . Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "National 
Food Authority Rationalization Act of 2013". 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - Affirming the right of every Filipino to 
have access to sufficient food, it is hereby declared the policy of the State to 
make all government agencies and corporations directly responsible for food 
production oriented toward the attainment of food security and sufficiency, the 
enhancement of competitiveness and transparency in the rice economy and to 
be more responsive to the increasing globalization of the agricultural market 
SEC. 3. Policy Goals and Objectives, - To carry out the foregoing policy, 
the mandate, programs and functions of the National Food Authority (NFA), shall 
be reoriented and realigned towards the achievement of the following objectives: 
a. Ensure available adequate and accessible supply of rice and other 
foodgrains during lean periods and in times of calamity and emergency; 
b. Promote regulation aimed at' erihancing competitiveness, transparency 
and responsibility in the foodgrains marketing industry; and, 
c. Encourage private sector participation in the importation of rice and in 
production and post-harvest facilities; 
SEC. 4. Reorientation of the National Food Authority - The functions of 
the NFA shall evolve to focus primarily on maintaining the buffer stock 
requirements of the country. All other developmental and regulatory function of 
the NFA shall be transferred to appropriate government agencies or local 
government units unless otherwise provided by this Act. 


SEC. 5. Buffer Stock Management. - The NFA shall be the primary 
agency responsible for the management of the buffer stock requirements of the 
country. For this purpose, the NFA shall review on an annual basis the buffer 
stock requirements of the country at the national and local levels and shall devise 
a system of regularly monitoring the buffer stock levels. For the purpose of 
ensuring that desirable buffer stock level of the country are met and maintained, 
the NFA may enter into contracts for the procurement of rice for government; 
Provided that the volume of rice procurement shall not be more than the strategic 
3D-day rice buffer stock requirement of the country. 
SEC. 6. Other Powers and Functions. -The NFA shall exercise the 
following responsibilities, powers and functions: 
a. To establish rules and regulations governing private sector importation of 
rice and collect fees and charges for said importation; 
b. To determine and allocate import quotas among private sector entities and 
farmer organizations licensed to engage in rice importation; 
c. To coordinate with the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in the generation of 
marketing information and establish and maintain marketing information 
dissemination systems in order to keep the public informed on the 
prevailing market situation of foodgrains and their substitutes and/or their 
by-products/end-products in different parts of the country; and, 
d. To inspect foodgrains and their substitutes and/or their by-products, stored 
by any person, partnership, corporation, or association, for purposes of 
taking inventory kind record of such commodities, and to enter the 
premises thereof by use of reasonable means. 
SEC. 6. Transfer of Mandate. -
The following regulatory and 
developmental functions of the NFA are hereinafter transferred to the following: 
a. The registration, licensing and supervision of warehouses, whether 
bonded or not, and the prescription, imposition and collection of fees and 
charges relative thereto to the local government units; 
b. The stabilization of prices of rice, corn and other foodgrains at the 
farmgate level to the Department of Agriculture; 
c. The stabilization of supply anD prices of other foodgrains and other basic 
food items at the consumer level to the National Price Coordinating 
Council; 
d. The development of more efficient ways, systems and facilities for 
harvesting, threshing, drying, storage, milling, packaging, post-harvest 
handling, and transporting of foodgrains to the Philippine Rice Research 
Institute; 
e. The registration, licensing, and supervision of persons, natural or juridical, 
who shall engage or are engaged in the business of providing goods and 
services in support of the different activities involved in the processing, 
transporting, marketing, and trading of foodgrains and their substitutes 
and/or their by-products/end-products as well as the imposition and 


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collection of fees, charges, and surcharges in licensing and regulating the 
operations of such persons to the Department of Agriculture; 
f. The formulation of plans and programs on foodgrains production, storage, 
milling and distribution, as well as the coordination for its implementation 
among various agencies of the government and the private sector to the 
Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standardization; and, 
g. The establishment of appropriate post-production technology and 
formulation of plans and programs aimed to reduce post-harvest losses to 
the Bureau of Post Harvest Research and Extension. 
SEC. 7. Role of the Private Sector. -The importation of rice shall 
henceforth be open to the participation of and exclusively undertaken by private 
sector entities and farmers' organizations, subject to appropriate tariffs and 
quotas; Provided, that the necessary registration and licensing processes and 
requirements of the NFA have been complied with. For this purposes, the policy 
of open importation and distribution by all interested private parties shall be fully 
implemented. 
SEC. 8. Transitory Provisions. -Within one (1) year from the effectivity of 
this Act, the NFA shall gradually phase out all its rice importation activities to give 
way to the entry of private sector entities, especially farmers' organizations, in 
rice importation; Provided, that the NFA shall have completely ceased all its rice 
importation functions and activities four (4) years from the time of the enactment 
of this Act. For this purpose, the NFA shall, within one hundred twenty (120) days 
from the enactment of this Act, establish the necessary rules and regulations for 
the importation of rice by the private sector. 
To effect a smooth transition, the NFA shall continue to exercise its 
developmental and regulatory functions, until the concerned government 
agencies or local government units shall have established their plans, programs 
and rules and regulations to implement their mandate identified in Section 6 
above, which in no case shall be no longer than one (1) year from the effectivity 
of this Act. 
SEC. 9. Rules and Regulations. - The NFA, in consultation with relevant 
government agencies and LGUs, farmer organizations and other stakeholders, 
shall within one hundred and twenty (120) days from the enactment of this Act, 
formulate the necessary rules and regulations to effectively implement the 
provisions of this Act. 
SEC. 10. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any section or 
provision of this Act shall be held unconstitutional or invalid, the other section or 
provision not otherwise affected shall remain in full force and effect. 
SEC. 11. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive 
orders, proclamations, rules and regulations which are inconsistent with the 
provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 


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SEC. 12. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation. 
Approved,