IT was just last February that Republic Act 11203, or the “Rice Tariffication Law” (RTL), was enacted into law. With the removal of the quantitative restrictions on rice importations — and replaced by tariff (or taxes) — there has been an influx of imported rice from Vietnam, Thailand and other neighboring countries. But it hasn’t brought down the retail price of rice. It is the price of palay (i.e. unmilled rice) that has plunged instead. Anyare?