President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and members of the Cabinet will discuss a recommendation to increase tariffs on imported rice and to suspend all rice imports temporarily, Malacañang announced on Monday.

“The Department of Agriculture is recommending an increase in tariff on imported rice and temporarily halt all importation to protect local farmers,” Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave M. Gomez said in a statement.

“The Cabinet will discuss this urgent matter with the President in India, on the sidelines of his state visit,” Gomez added.

Gomez issued the statement as President Marcos and several Cabinet members left Monday for a five-day state visit to India.

Last June, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told the House of Representatives that he recommended to the Tariff Commission a gradual return of rice import duties from the current 15 percent to eventually 35 percent.

Laurel had also suggested that the tariff hike coincide with the harvest seasons of the Philippines’ major suppliers—around late September for Vietnam and December for Pakistan- to minimize the impact on the local market.

Tariffs on imported rice were reduced to 15 percent in July last year to help tame rice retail prices and slow food inflation. | PND