The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that the National Price Coordinating Council is set to declare a food security emergency within the next two days.
The declaration was confirmed during a hearing of the House of Representatives’ Murang Pagkain Supercommittee.
DTI Assistant Secretary Agaton Uvero clarified that the delay in the declaration stemmed from the need to finalize the wording of the declaration, a standard procedure for such announcements.
Representative Stella Quimbo of Marikina, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, pressed for a swift declaration, emphasizing the urgency of the situation given the high price of rice despite recent tariff reductions.
The National Food Authority (NFA) reported having 761,207 bags of rice in stock, with 300,000 bags considered aging.
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson explained that these stocks would be released for sale if the food security emergency is declared. Aging stocks will be sold at P29 per kilo, while regular stocks will be available at P38 per kilo through Kadiwa stores and local government units.
Representative Arnan Panaligan of Oriental Mindoro urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to review its legal powers to address the rice crisis more effectively. He emphasized that the DA possesses ample authority to tackle the issue and encouraged the department to be creative and aggressive in utilizing its resources.
Members of the committee on Tuesday earlier decried the alleged lack of a sense of urgency on the part of concerned agencies, including the DA, DTI, and NFA to bring down rice prices.
This came after the legislators, in the course of the fifth hearing of the mega panel on the high prices of rice and other food items, called out agency officials for their failure to submit a draft of a food security emergency declaration more than a week after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced he favored such a pronouncement.
“The declaration of recommendation to declare a food security emergency umiikot na po ‘yung papel,” DA Undersecretary Christopher Morales informed the Murang Bigas Committee chaired by Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda.
Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo then asked, “Ano pa ‘yung kulang (What’s missing)?”
Morales replied, “We’re still waiting for the recommendation from the NPCC (National Price Coordinating Council) for the declaration. Yung paper po kasi I think umiikot nga (The papers I think are being circulated).”
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Arnan Panaligan lamented that the concerned officials “have no sense of urgency.” Panaligan urged the DA to be “dynamic and aggressive” in the campaign to bring down food prices, particularly that of rice.
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the law prohibits his agency to sell rice without a declaration of a food security emergency.