TODAY, September 5, may prove to be a black-letter day for the Philippines.
On this day, President Marcos Jr.’s order setting a ceiling on rice prices will take effect. Under Executive Order 39, Marcos ordered a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular-milled rice and P45 for well-milled rice. This presidential directive comes at a time when the prices of rice are indeed flying through the roof, in the range of P50 per kilo for regular varieties to P100 a kilo for glutinous or black rice.
According to the Department of Agriculture (DA), local regular milled rice increased to P42 to P55 a kilo on Sept. 1 from P35 to P40 on Jan. 12 this year and P38 on Sept. 1 last year. Well-milled rice climbed to P47 to P57 a kilo from P38 to P44 on Jan. 12 this year and P40 in the same period last year.
Despite the threat of punishment, fines and even imprisonment, rice traders and retailers especially in Eastern Visayas and Metro Manila defiantly maintained they will not follow the price cap order.
Their reason is simple and easily understandable: No businessman will survive in this capitalist economy by buying high and selling low for a loss. The retailers are asking the President to give them time to dispose of their rice stock in the market before imposing the price ceiling. That way, they could at least recover their initial capital or suffer only small losses, since they acquired their rice for sale at nearly P50 per kilo from traders.
‘… strengthening local rice production, rather than relying on imports, is the solution.’
Speaker Martin Romualdez, who a couple of days ago led a group of Bureau of Customs inspectors in “raiding” and closing a rice warehouse in Bulacan which contained suspected hoarded rice, only had his ears to offer the stakeholders in the rice industry. He said the government is not numb to their requests, and they will do something to alleviate the situation.
Lower-ranking members of the House did better than the Speaker, as they proposed concrete measures to be taken by those badly impacted by EO 39. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said rice retailers should submit their sworn statements to the DA and the Department of Trade and Industry containing their rice inventories and purchase costs to address their concerns on the price caps. He also suggested that the National Food Authority buy the retailers’ inventories at a price higher than their procurement costs, and resell these to the public even at a loss.
Party-list Rep. France Castro said farmers belonging to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas took into account the median price of palay purchased by rice traders, as well as expenses for drying, milling, hauling, transportation, and other costs, and came up with price range of only P30 to P37.40 a kilo, way below PBBM’s ceiling.
She also asked government “to take sincere steps in dismantling the rice cartel, composed of opportunistic importers, traders, and businessmen with connections to the DA, who manipulate the supply and price of rice in the local market.”
Aside from this, she said, strengthening local rice production, rather than relying on imports, is the solution. We fully agree.
