SPEAKER Martin Romualdez yesterday has proposed the creation of a mega government task force to run after price manipulators of rice and “greedy” traders following revelations during the hearings of the House quinta committee on cheap food prices.
“A call to immediate action is needed to force a decrease in rice prices for the benefit of the Filipino consumer,” Romualdez said, as he vowed that the House of Representatives “will not allow” the exploitation to continue.
“The House of Representatives will dismantle this cartel, ensure accountability, and protect both consumers and our farmers,” he added.
The Speaker issued the statement after the quinta committee chaired by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda discovered that rice importers and traders are still in cahoots to manipulate the prices of rice despite an oversupply and President Marcos Jr.’s order to reduce import tariffs.
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo earlier told the five joint House committees that importers and traders have profited as much as P13 billion after rice import tariffs were slashed from 35 percent to 15 percent under Executive Order (EO) No. 62 last June.
The Speaker said he could not understand why rice prices remain at around P50 per kilo when it should have gone down due to sufficient supply and reduction in importation cost.
“The findings of the quinta comm expose a serious betrayal of public trust. The Filipino people are paying unnecessarily high prices for rice, which should now be at P35 to P40 per kilo due to oversupply and tariff reductions. This blatant manipulation is unacceptable,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez said his proposed task force shall be composed of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Justice (DoJ), including the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Customs (BuCor), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
He said the task force shall be empowered “to conduct inventories, check on compliance with tax laws and rules, inspect warehouses, and to immediately padlock any erring business establishment.”
He also said the mega panel shall be required to submit a monthly report to Congress as part of its oversight functions.
While the President’s EO on rice import tariffs was issued on the belief that it will help bring down rice prices, the opposite happened after traders and importers conspired to hoard supplies to jack up prices.
Lawmakers have noted that while the landed price of imported rice dropped by P11 per kilo year-on-year, domestic prices rose from P51 to P55.30, exposing market inefficiencies. The difference between landed and domestic prices has also gotten bigger, from P3 per kilo in 2023 to P20 in 2024.
Data presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also show an oversupply of rice, with the demand-supply ratio dropping from 82.5 to 69.4 this year.
However, the PSA reported that the price of regular-milled rice decreased only slightly from P50.16 to 50.40 in October to P49.44 in the early part of last month.
Lawmakers earlier accused some importers and traders of conspiring to hoard rice stocks to artificially inflate prices to reap billions in profits.
Rep. Nicanor Briones (PL, AGAP) has exposed the supposed shared ownership among top importers, identifying RBS Universal Grains Traders Corp. and Sodatrade Corp. as having collectively imported 273,000 metric tons of rice.
“‘Pag tiningnan mo, ang mga may-ari ay iisa [lamang]. Ibig sabihin, dito palang malinaw na may sabwatan (When you examine it, there’s only one owner. It means, there’s clearly collusion),” he told a hearing last week..
LEGISLATION
Romualdez directed the quinta committee to expedite legislation, including amendments to strengthen the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, and urged the DOJ and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to hold perpetrators accountable.
“This is not just an economic issue – it’s a matter of food security and national stability. The House will use all its powers to hold these cartels accountable, protect our farmers, and bring affordable rice to Filipino households,” he said.
The Speaker also called on the DA to intensify the monitoring of rice stockpiles and ensure that surplus stocks are released into the market to stabilize prices.
