Putting a cap on prices of food during a lack of supply is ineffective, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said Tuesday, as he pushed the government to go after the food price manipulators that Agriculture Secretary William Dar exposed at the Senate hearing.
“Dapat sampulan ang nagsasamantala. Sa ilalim ng Price Act, hanggang 1 milyong piso ang maaring multa sa mga lumalabag sa batas na ito,” said Pangilinan, the former Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization.
“Dapat i-deputize ang NBI at PNP-CIDG at habulin yung mga nabanggit ni Secretary Dar na nagsasamantala,” he added, referring to the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday said the new Executive Order (EO) that imposes a price ceiling on pork and chicken products in the National Capital Region (NCR) is likely to take effect on February 8.
“The price ceiling will effectively be enforced by Feb. 8 this year by all the institutions involved,” Secretary Dar told the House committees on Agriculture and Food as well as Trade and Industry.
Congressmen also called on the DA to step up its efforts to stabilize and bring down current food prices, even as they vowed to help the agency come up with the needed interventions to prevent price spikes and volatility in the future.
This came after the House Committees on Agriculture and Food and on Trade and Industry began its deliberations on several resolutions calling for a probe on rising prices of agricultural products, such as meat and vegetables.
One of these is House Resolution 1522 filed by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Quezon Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga and Navotas City Rep. John Reynald Tiangco, which sought an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the rising food prices.
The panel wants a view of “determining the necessary interventions to stabilize food prices and ensure the availability and affordability of food to Filipino consumers.”
“Is the government doing enough? We want to hear it straight from the good Secretary so as to somehow pacify the consuming public,” Enverga said during the hearing, referring to Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who was among those invited to the inquiry.
Enverga chairs the agriculture and food committee, while Tiangco heads the trade and industry panel.
Pangilinan, whose Senate Resolution 618 and privilege speech were the basis for Monday’s Senate hearing, noted that the price freeze during the emergency situation of the pandemic failed.
“Tumataas ‘yong presyo kahit na may price freeze. Paano ngayon ipapatupad itong price ceiling? Kung yung price freeze hindi napatupad, ano ang assurance na ‘yung price ceiling maipapatupad?” he asked.
Malacañang on Monday issued Executive Order No. 124 ordering a 60-day price ceiling that pegs the prices of some food items as follows: P270 for a kilo of kasim and pigue, P300 for a kilo of liempo, and P160 for a kilo of dressed chicken.
Prior to EO 124, a kilo of pigue sold at P380, liempo at P425, and dressed chicken at P200, according to the DA’s Bantay Presyo Monitoring for February 1, 2021.
“Kung milyon-milyong kilo ng karne ang na-import, nasaan ang mga ito? Buksan ang mga cold storage facilities at alamin kung may hoarding ba nito,” Pangilinan said.
At Monday’s Senate hearing on rising food prices, Pangilinan called for immediate action of the appropriate government bodies to justify the price rise of basic commodities and to rectify the irregularities behind it.
“Sa gitna ng pandemya na walang trabaho at kulang ang kita, hindi pwede itong price cap lang ang isasagot natin sa hirap at gutom na nararamdaman ng ating mga kababayan,” he said.
Pangilinan recalled that as food security czar when rice prices were rising in 2014, he created an inter-agency task force composed of the National Food Authority (NFA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the NBI, and the PNP-CIDG.
He said that based on the Price Act and NFA’s Presidential Decree No. 4, he went after profiteers, unscrupulous traders, and even several NFA managers.
“May mga permit na na-revoke o na-suspend, meron pang mga kasong isinampa sa mga profiteers at hoarders, at maging ilang NFA personnel na involved sa diversion at re-bagging,” Pangilinan said.
“Hindi natin pinalampas ang mga mapagsamantala. Ganyan din dapat ngayon,” he added.
Tiangco lamented that rising prices of food have forced several families to make do with whatever little food they can afford.
“Now, more than ever, a transparent unbundling of the cost of food commodities from the grower, producer and livestock raiser, through various middlemen and distribution channels, and eventually down to the retail level, must be made,” Tiangco said.
Dar said that 2020 provided the country a “perfect storm” — natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and African Swine Flu (ASF) outbreak — all contributing to the country’s supply deficit of livestock and agricultural products. These in turn drove prices sky high, he said.
According to the DA price monitoring team, prices of agri-fishery commodities go as high as P400 as of last January 18. Most notably, prices of pork rose to a high of P450 per kilo, while the price for a whole chicken went as high as P180.