Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is poised to issue an executive order for emergency government procurement of palay, aiming to stabilize prices triggered by adverse weather and a bumper harvest—factors that have blunted the impact of the two‑month rice import ban.
Speaking on the sidelines of the House’s 2026 budget debates on Monday, September 29, Tiu Laurel painted a stark picture of how palay prices have plunged anew in recent days.
He said farm‑gate price of palay had briefly surged to around PHP14/kilo just weeks before the import freeze took effect on September 1, from PHP8–10/kilo. He said since the start of the harvest, prices have again fallen to pre-import ban levels and in parts of Northern Luzon, where rains and flooding damaged crops, wet palay prices reportedly plunged as low as PHP6/kilo.
“This is quite alarming. Over the weekend, everyone in the DA has been at work. I was with President Marcos in Northern Luzon, and these are the decisions that have been made,” he said.
Among the measures outlined are: extending the import ban by at least 30 days; establishing a palay floor price; preparing an executive order to raise rice tariffs (currently 15 percent) after the ban; barring government agencies and local government units from buying imported rice; executing emergency purchase of palay through the National Food Authority; and enabling the NFA to rent private warehouses to expand its storage.
Tiu Laurel, in his role as NFA Council chair, said the agency expects to procure wet palay at PHP17/kilo under the emergency plan.
On extending the import ban, he added, “there is a big possibility it will be extended until the end of this year.” He said a two-month extension is what rice millers and local rice traders had recommended during his meeting with these groups last week.
