House Speaker Martin Romualdez on Friday urged candidates in the 2025 midterm elections to prioritize rice affordability, stressing that while recent government measures have yielded positive results, sustained efforts are necessary to achieve long-term solutions.
He emphasized that moderating the price of rice should be the primary focus of government efforts to curb inflation on basic goods.
Romualdez acknowledged the government’s proactive steps, including the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) declaration of a food security emergency, which allowed the release of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) rice buffer stocks to stabilize retail prices and ensure consumer accessibility.
Additionally, the DA has set a maximum suggested retail price (SRP) of P49 per kilo for imported rice starting in March, while NFA rice is being made available at P35 per kilo to support low-income consumers.
“We know that each grain of rice is important to every Filipino family. We are seeing positive steps taken by the government, but we should not be complacent. We have a lot of work to do to ensure that the price of rice is affordable for everyone,” Romualdez said in Filipino.
Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) is urging local government units (LGUs) to accelerate the pullout of rice stocks under the current food security emergency to free up storage space.
NFA administrator Larry Lacson said the move will allow the NFA to purchase more palay from local farmers, protecting them from price manipulators.
“We appeal to LGUs to expedite the pullout of rice reserves. This will free up space in our warehouses, enabling us to procure more palay and ensure farmers aren’t at the mercy of traders pushing down prices,” Lacson said, stressing that storage capacities are nearly breached.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Romualdez calls for sustained rice affordability drive, welcomes initial gains”