EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
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)
S E N A T E  
S. No. 
9 V 3
*19 
AUG 27 
P 5-42
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RECE.'. .'b ..
Introduced by SENATOR RAMON BONG REVILLA, 3R.
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
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The Constitution, Article 2, Sections 19 and 20, provides:
"Section 19. 
"The State shall develop a self-reliant and 
independent national economy effectively controlled by Filipinos."
Section 20. "The State recognizes the indispensable role or the 
private sector, encourages private enterprise, and provides incentives to 
needed investments."
The National Food Authority (NFA) exercises both regulatory and proprietary 
functions over the grain sector, setting import quantities and at the same time serving 
as the sole importer of authorized volume of imports. It was created to address goals 
of ensuring stable and low food grain prices for consumers, pursuant to our national 
policy of agricultural modernization and sustainable poverty reduction. Unfortunately, 
over the years, interventions in the market has created distortions in the rice market, 
contributing, among others, to the poor productivity of the rice sector, 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 aims to streamline government intervention in the rice 
sector by eliminating the sole rice importation function from the NFA and allowing the 
participation of the private sector in rice importation. This will allow market forces to 
work in the importation, marketing and stockpiling 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, irrigation and 
extension services.
This bill proposes the transformation of NFA from a grain marketing monopoly 
to a public regulatory agency focused mainly 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. Also, 
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.
In view of the foregoing, the urgent approval of this bill is earnestly sought.
RAM(WBONG REVILLA, 3R.


EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
)
First Regular Session 
)
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*19 
AUG 27 
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in tro d u c e d  by ^ cN A i u k  k a MUN bUNvi k c v il l a , j k .
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 o f Representatives o f the Philippines in 
Congress assembled:
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Section 1. Short Title. -  This Act shall be known as the "National Food Authority
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Act of 2019."
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Sec. 2. Declaration o f Policy. -  Declaring the right of every Filipino to have
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access to sufficient food, it is hereby declared the pclic/ of the State to make a!!
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government agencies and corporations directly responsible for food production
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oriented toward the attainment of food security and sufficiency, the enhancement of
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competitiveness and transparency in the rice economy and to be more responsive to
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the increasing globalization of the agricultural market.
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Sec. 3. Policy Goals and Objectives. -  To carry out the foregoing policy, the
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mandate, programs and functions of the National Food Authority (NFA), shall be
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a) Ensure available adequate and accessible supply or rice and other food grains
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during lean periods and in times of calamity and emergency;
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b) Promote regulation aimed at enhancing competitiveness, transparency and
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responsibility in the food grains marketing industry; and
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c) Encourage private sector participation in the importation of rice and in
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production and post-harvest facilities;


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Sec. 4. Re-orientation o f the National Food Authority. -  The functions of the
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NFA shall evolve to focus primarily on maintaining the buffer stock requirements of
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the country. All other developmental and regulatory function of the NFA shall be
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transferred to appropriate government agencies or local government units unless
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otherwise provided by this Act.
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Sec. 5. Buffer Stock Management. -  The NFA shall be the primary agency
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responsible in the management of the buffer stock requirements of the country. For
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this purpose, the NFA shall review on an annual basis the buffer stock requirements
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of the country at the national and local levels and shall devise a system of regularly
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monitoring the buffer stock levels. For the purpose or ensuring that desirable buffer
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for the procurement of rice for government; provided that the volume or rice
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procurement shall not be more than the strategic 30-day rice buffer stock requirement
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of the country.
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Sec. 6. Other Powers and Functions o f the NFA. -  The NFA shall exercise the
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following responsibilities, powers and functions:
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a) To establish rules and regulations governing private sector importation of rice
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b) To determine and allocate import quotas among private sector entities and
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farmer organizations licensed to engage in rice importation
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c) To coordinate with the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in the generation of
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marketing information and establish and maintain marketing information
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dissemination systems in order to keep the public informed on the prevailing
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market situation of food grains and their substitutes and/or 
their by-
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d) To inspect food grains and their substitutes and/or their by-products, stored by
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any person, partnership, corporation, or association, tor purposes of taking
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inventory kind record or such commodities, and to enter the premises thereof
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by use of reasonable means.
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Sec. 7. Transfer o f Mandate. -  The following regulatory and developmental
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functions of the NFA are hereinafter transferred to the following:


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a) The registration, licensing and supervision or warehouses, whether bonded or 
not, and the prescription, imposition and collection or tees and charges relative 
thereto to the local government units;
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level to 30 the Department of Agriculture;
c) The stabilization of supply and prices of other food grains 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 food grains 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 food grains and their substitutes and/or their 
byproducts/end-products as well as the imposition and collection of fees, 
charges, and surcharges in licensing and regulating the operations of such 
persons to the Department of Agriculture;
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milling and distribution, as well as the coordination for its implementation 
among various agencies or 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.
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open to the participation or 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 these purposes, the policy of open importation and distribution by 
all interested private parties shall be fully implemented.
Sec. 9. Transitory Provisions. -  Within one (1) year from the effectivity of this
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the entry of private sector entities, especially farmers' organizations, 
in rice
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importation; Provided, that the NFA shall have completely ceased all 
its rice
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importation functions and activities four (4) years from the time or the enactment of
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this Act. For this purpose, the NFA shall, within one hundred ^.vent'/ (120) days from
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the enactment of this Act, establish the necessary rules and regulations for the
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importation of rice by the private sector.
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To effect a smooth transition, the NFA shall continue to exercise its
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developmental and regulatory functions, until the concerned government agencies or
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local government units shall have established their plans, programs and rules and
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regulations to implement their mandate identified in Section 6 above, which in no case
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shall be no longer than one (1) year from the effectivib/ of this Act.
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Sec. 10. Pena!Provisions. -T he following acts or omissions shall be punishable 
as follows:
a) Serious Offenses:
i. 
Cornering or hoarding of food grains resulting in artificial shortage or 
scarcity of supply and increase of prices thereof in any part of the 
country;
ii. 
Unreasonable depletion of stocks; selling or lending of government 
stocks to another food grains seller; selling or offering to sell government 
stocks beyond the maximum quantity or price allowed by the 
Department of Agriculture; or storing or selling government stocks in 
other places other than those duly authorized by law;
iii. 
Causing prices of essential commodities to fall or rise for one's own profit 
by changing or falsifying figures, accounts, and other related information
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IV.
VI.
Printing, issuing, or knowingly using, processing, 
or negotiating, 
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cancelled, unauthorized, illegal, counterfeit, or falsified warehouse 
receipt;
Failure or refusal of an accountable officer to turn over or remit collection 
within a reasonable period of time; or
Failure or refusal of a food grains warehouseman to deliver food grains
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to the allowance authorized for depreciation of the food grains 
deposited.
b) Less Serious Offenses:
i. 
Conniving in the concealment of stock shortage in a food grains 
warehouse;
ii. 
Knowingly submitting any report containing false information or data;
iii. 
Failure or refusal of a warehouseman to allow the inspection of his food 
grain stocks to misrepresent their quantity or quality or to conceal a 
shortage, 
including impeding such inspection and examination by 
abandonment, absence, or other similar means.
The offender shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment of not less 
than four (4) years and one (1) day to not more than eight (8) years, or by a fine of 
not less than One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) to not more than One 
Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the court.
c) Light Offenses:
i. 
Willful non-compliance with any official order, circular, 
or directive 
lawfully issued by the Department of Agriculture, unless such constitutes 
3 higher offense under this Act, in which case the offender shall be 
penalized under the latter offense;
Ii. 
Committing any other violation of a provision of this Act for which no 
specific penalty is prescribed and which is not punished under any other 
existing law.
The offender shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment of not less 
than two (2) years to not more than four (4) years or a fine of not less than Fifty 
Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) to not more than One Hundred Thousand Pesos 
(P100,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the court.
Sec. 11. Implementing Rules and Regulation. -T h e  NFA, in consultation with 
relevant government agencies and Local Government Units (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.


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Sec. 12. Separability Clause. -  If, for any reason, any section or provision of
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this Act shall be held unconstitutional or invalid, the other section or provision not
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otherwise affected shall remain in full force and effect.
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Sec. 13. Repealing Clause. -  All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders,
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proclamations, issuances, administrative order, rules and regulations contrary to or
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inconsistent with any provision of this Act are hereby amended, repealed or modified
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accordingly.
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Sec. 14. Effectivity Clause. -T his Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
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publication in any two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
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