Fred M. Lobo By Fred M. Lobo   The government has assured that cheap imported rice will soon flood the local market. Yes to cheaper rice! No to “memo-rice” or just imaginary rice meal for Pinoys! *** The National Food Authority (NFA) said that imported NFA rice will be sold again at P27 and P32 per kilo. “We will provide the poor accessibility to low-priced rice,” the government assured. *** The availability of cheap imported rice is also expected to pull down rice prices in the market. “This will of course drag down even prices of commercial rice, which as you know, despite the lack of supply, we were able to still hold on it at the level of R39 to R49 for regular and well-milled rice,” Trade Sec. Ramon  Lopez added. *** Lopez said the Department of Trade (DTI) is closely monitoring prices of rice and other food products to ensure retailers abide with the agreed Suggested Retail Prices (SRP). Yes to SRP: Show respect to pricing. *** The Department of Agriculture (DA) also disclosed plans to impose SRP for agricultural products sold in markets. Yes, check overpricing of food commodities. *** Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III also said a rice tariffication  law  has been proposed  to address high food prices and reduce inflation. “It will bring down rice prices by around P7 per kilo for the Filipino families and reduce inflation to below 4 percent by the second half of the year,” he said. *** The NFA said that the first tranche of imported rice from Vietnam started arriving last June 2, to be followed by importation from Thailand. “As a result, regular patrons of good-quality government-subsidized rice can now heave a sigh of relief,” NFA said. *** The food agency added that aside from the government-to-private and government-to-government importation, the bidding for the importation of 805,000 MT of rice under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) scheme of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is also happening in a few days. MAV scheme enjoys lower tariff, hence favorable, *** NFA Administrator Jason Aquino said the agency will focus on the immediate presence of NFA rice in  markets. Yes, time to stabilize and pull down  rice prices. *** While visiting Seoul, South Korea, President Duterte and his economic managers assured Filipinos that rice as well as domestic fuel are expected to temper down and Philippine inflation rate would start to level off. Yes to lower prices and inflation rate. *** Meanwhile, South Korean businessmen   signed with their  Filipino counterpart  23 business deals worth an estimated value of $4.858 billion. Duterte’s visit to South Korea will  generate 50,000 new jobs for Filipinos back home, Malacañang said. *** Duterte and Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in witnessed   the signing of the agreements between Lopez and Korean Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Paik Ungyu following the successful bilateral meeting Signed and sealed with friendship. *** “These investments are expected to generate 50,000 new jobs in the sectors of automative, public utility, modernization, LNG (liquified natural gas) and coal fire power, engineering, construction, sea offshore services, food and aquaculture,” Lopez said Business sentiment towards the President was “very positive, ”because of his strong political will and reform agenda, he added.. *** “Everybody recognizes the strong political will, the change the President is bringing, all the reforms that we’re talking about. They all realize the administration is determined to make changes for the better. ” Lopez said. Yes to diplomacy and partnership. Yes to lower prices and positive changes for PH.