PBBM issues EO 39, pegs grains at P41/kilo for regular, P45 well-milled
The government will impose a price cap on rice as prices for the grain continue to surge, the Palace said Friday.
A Palace statement said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 39 approving the joint recommendation of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry to put a price ceiling on rice.
Under the EO, the mandated price limit for regular milled rice is P41 per kilogram, while the mandated price cap for well-milled rice is P45 a kilo.
As of Aug. 28, the DA reported the local regular milled rice in markets in the National Capital Region (NCR) ranged from PhP42 per kilo to P55 per kilo, while local well-milled rice stood at P48 to P55 per kilo.
“The mandated price ceilings shall remain in full force and effect unless lifted by the President upon the recommendation of the Price Coordinating Council or the DA and the DTI,” the executive order said.
Mr. Marcos called on the public to report to the authorities vendors and retailers not observing the mandated price ceiling on rice.
“Report them to the police, report them to the DA, report them to the local government so we can investigate,” the President said in a mix of English and Filipino at an event in Palawan.
Mr. Marcos said the surging prices were observed in Metro Manila but not in other provinces.
“The real problem is in NCR. It’s not so bad outside… Metro Manila…
That’s why maybe we will be focusing our efforts in Metro Manila,” he said.
In the last sectoral meeting at the Palace, the DA reported that the projected rice supply would reach 10.15 million metric tons (MMT), with 2.53 MMT coming from the ending stock from the first semester and7.20 MMT from local production. Imported rice should account for only 0.41 MMT.
The EO noted that despite the adequate supply, there have beenwidespread reports of illegal price manipulation and hoarding by industry cartels.
The President ordered the DTI and the DA to strictly implement the EO.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government, which oversees the police, is also mandated to assist the DA and the DTI in enforcing the price ceilings.
Mr. Marcos previously ordered the Bureau of Customs to intensify its ongoing efforts in raiding warehouses linked to hoarding and illegal rice importation.
Three warehouses in Balagtas, Bulacan are under investigation for having more than P500 million worth of rice.
The House of Representatives led by Speaker Martin Romualdez backed the President’s order to impose a price ceiling on rice, calling it a “decisive action to ensure every Filipino’s access to affordable rice.”
Romualdez called the move a “timely and necessary intervention” to shield the public from the undue economic burden caused by surging rice prices.
He also warned unscrupulous rice traders that the House will be unrelenting in its fight against rice hoarders and smugglers and would do everything to help the President drive rice prices down to reasonable levels.
Farmer leader Simeon Sioson, chairman of the 4 SM Agri Multipurpose Cooperative based in Barangay Lambakin, San Miguel, Bulacan, said the price cap is just the right amount that will not burden consumers.
“This is equivalent to P25/kg buying price for palay (paddy rice). We are hoping that the NFA (National Food Authority) will buy palay at that price from us,” Sioson said Friday.
He added the increasing price of rice will also help lift up the price of paddy rice which has peaked at as much as P32 to P34/kg at the farm gate, giving farmers a higher premium on their produce.
The start of the wet season harvest was bought by rice millers and traders at a premium since the price of rice is on the rise, he added.
Farmers noted that the high palay procurement price is about twice the P19/kg buying price of the government through the NFA.
A peasant group and a think tank, however, questioned the wisdom of price ceilings, however, saying it could result in lower farmgate prices that would hurt farmers.
AMIHAN National Federation of Peasant Women secretary general and Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo and IBON Foundation research head Rosario Guzman said a price ceiling could result in an unreasonably cheap price for palay or unhusked rice.
The Kilusang Mangbubukid ng Pilipinas, meanwhile, called on the government to go after rice cartels, who manipulate the supply and price of rice in the local market
Earlier, Romualdez and other lawmakers met with representatives from the Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders’ Movement (PRISM).
“If you want to be part of the solution, you are with us, we will help you, we’re going to support you. But if you’re part of the problem, we will root you out,” Romualdez told PRISM representatives during the meeting.
He said the House is serious in its support of the President’s immediate goal of stabilizing rice prices and the Chief Executive’s long-term vision of achieving rice self-sufficiency for the country.
Romualdez, who recently joined raids on warehouses suspected of hoarding rice, said the campaign to root out profiteers would extend to the Visayas and Mindanao.
“If we find out that people are importing and hoarding and profiteering, we’re going to raid [them],” he said, adding that seized rice would be given to the Department of Social Welfare and Development or to Kadiwa.
The Speaker acknowledged the gesture of PRISM to make available to the public rice at P38 a kilo but he also noted that the target of recent raids in Bulacan rice warehouses suspected of hoarding and smuggling were members of the group.
He said the group could show their sincerity by helping the government unmask the “bad eggs” or members suspected of involvement in unscrupulous trade practices.
Noting that rice imports, particularly from Vietnam, constitute only 18 percent of the total rice consumption in the country, Romualdez said traders cannot justify price hikes in the local market by citing world market prices.
While it’s completely understandable for traders to earn profits from the rice trade, Romualdez said they should not be too greedy, warning that the government is willing to undertake even more drastic measures to regulate importation to prevent abuses by profiteers.
“Don’t try to scare the government. The government can take over and do the importing itself and just break even or even subsidize. At the end of the day, the people—the over 100 million Filipinos–should not be overcharged and go hungry,” Romualdez said.
The DTI said it would strictly monitor retail prices of rice.
Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, however, said the price ceilings were exclusively imposed on regular- and well-milled rice as these “are commonly consumed by the public.” Consumers who want to buy fancy rice varieties can still do so at the prevailing prices, he added.
Senator Francis Escudero said the President’s move to order a price ceiling is an acknowledgment of an emergency, or that there is widespread profiteering, hoarding, or price manipulation.
He said the first step in solving a problem is admitting there is one.
The second step is finding solutions to stop it and prevent it from happening again in the future.
Senator Francis Tolentino said the President’s move is an appropriate response to control inflation as well as to ensure the affordability of rice. He said this will also safeguard food security.
“But in the long run, we should look at efforts to improve local rice production,” he said.
On the other hand, Senator Risa Hontiveros said price controls are “cures’ that could be worse than the disease.
“Is this the prescription of economists of Malacanang or their spin doctors? Price control is a lazy job,” she said.
If there are hoarders who want to reduce the rice supply in the market and jack up the price, she said then they should be caught.