CONCERNED over the spike in rice prices, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered government agencies to use “legal tools” to keep the food staple affordable especially for the poor.
He gave assurances that government support mechanisms will be provided for farmers and traders should “legal measures be invoked by the government in controlling the price of rice.”
The chief executive issued the order during a sectoral meeting in Malacañang on Tuesday after getting reports on the retail price of rice.
Based on the market monitoring of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the retail price of rice in Metro Manila ranges from P42 to P65 as of August 29, 2023.
This, despite the statement of the DA that the country has sufficient rice as of date and therefore
a supply crunch should not be pushing up prices.
Authorities are now determining the cause of the uptrend in prices, which may include the effects of consecutive typhoons over the past month (Typhoons Egay and Falcon) in severely affected areas and/or rice-deficit regions, and prices posed by middlemen, as well as hoarding.
In a press briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday, Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio said they were ordered by the President to intensify their drive against rice hoarders and smugglers.
“As per the directive of the President, what we will do is….validate all warehouses that are storing imported rice and then upon validation, we will then issue—again, I will then issue letters of authority to conduct inspection on these warehouses and to validate whether these imported articles or imported rice that are stored in these warehouses are paid with correct duties and taxes,” Rubio said.
He noted their most recent anti-smuggling campaign resulted in the investigation of three warehouses in Bulacan with combined sacks of rice estimated to be worth P505 million.
Owners and operators of the warehouses were given until September 8, 2023 to prove they paid the necessary duties for the goods.
Rubio said BOC was able to apprehend P30 billion worth of contraband or smuggled goods this year—the highest in the last five years.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes