Sell rice at P42, government urged

MANILA, Philippines — The private sector is calling on the government to impose a suggested retail price (SRP) on all well-milled rice in the market at P42 per kilogram to arrest profiteering by some traders and slowly stabilize the price of the commodity.

Private stakeholders said they are now amenable to a price cap on well-milled rice and are urging the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to implement it.

“Now is the time to implement price control of up to a maximum of P42 per kg on all commercial rice, whether imported or local. Besides it is already hard to determine which is imported or local in the market right now,” Philippine Confederation of Grains Association (PCGA) president Joji Co said in a briefing yesterday.

“DTI should implement this effective immediately. This is a suggestion coming from the private sector. We are already giving them the cue on how to go about it,” he added.

The group gave assurance that prices will start to stabilize by next month if the P42 per kg SRP will be implemented immediately.

Latest data on rice prices from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the average wholesale price of well-milled rice rose 13 percent to P44.49 per kilogram at the end of August versus a year ago while week-on-week prices inched up by two percent.

Its average retail price also increased to P47.12 per kg, up by 12 percent year-on-year and two percent week-on-week.

To recall, well-milled rice was not included in list of eight commodities that have been imposed an SRP.

Move fast

The chairman of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura maintained that the suspension of the government’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law is the immediate solution to stabilize prices of basic commodities.

“Bringing down the prices of oil is the solution. If you do that, there will be no reason for prices of commodities not to go down,” Sinag chairman Rosendo So said in the same briefing.

“They keep on blaming the agriculture sector for the high prices and the inflation. Why don’t they address the main problem here, which is the oil price caused by TRAIN,” he added.

The country’s headline inflation hit a nine-year high in August, spiking by 6.4 percent year-on-year and registering higher annual inflation across a majority of regions.

“We are not the culprits in price spikes of our staple food as the farm gate price of our produce and harvest have remained the same in the last nine months or when the TRAIN law took effect,” So said.

“There is an obvious disconnect between our farm gate prices and what the people buy at the retail markets. Instead of blaming the agriculture sector, government regulators should have long addressed this disconnect,” he added.

Sen. JV Ejercito said in Bacolod City that he warned against food inflation when TRAIN I was being deliberated but the government’s economic managers downplayed it.

Ejercito said the economic managers should be honest about figures and the implications about their proposals.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon pushed for the immediate passage of the proposed rice tariffication bill in order to address the pricing and supply issues surrounding the country’s staple food. 

Pimentel said the enactment of a rice tariffication law would provide the country with a long-term solution to the issues surrounding the supply of rice and offer some relief to the families from the rising prices of goods and commodities. 

Drilon said the problem with the supply of rice was due to the failure by the NFA to correctly predict the situation. 

“The NFA particularly and squarely is to blame for this failure to predict. It doesn’t take too much science,” he said. 

Drilon said he supports the passage of the rice tariffication bill because there has to be enough supply of rice in the market in order to bring down the price.

No to importation

But various peasant groups are set to launch a protest action on Monday to demand the government defend and strengthen local agriculture.

Rafael Mariano, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairman emeritus and former agrarian reform secretary, said importation is an unsuitable solution and that the government should instead support local farmers and producers.

 “A strong and productive agriculture is vital in addressing the worsening problem of high food prices and inflation. A national food crisis is swiftly building up. High food prices, inhumane wages and the government’s inefficiency to resolve these lingering issues fuel the frustration and outrage of Filipinos,” Mariano said in a news conference in Quezon City.

 “Hungry people are angry people. The President (Duterte) won’t know what hit him once the poor and hungry masses rise up and revolt,” he added.

Together with the groups Amihan-National Federation of Peasant Women, Pamalakaya Pilipinas and stakeholders from the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, KMP said they will continue to counter the importation of rice, fish, livestock, poultry and other agricultural products.

In Marilao Bulacan, a rice warehouse was padlocked by operatives of the Bureau of Customs allegedly for import violation processes.

Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna, acting Bulacan police director, said the rice warehouse is located inside the Federal Corp. compound in Barangay Ibayo.

The BOC said when the warehouse was raided, its operatives discovered some 2,500 sacks of suspected smuggled rice. – With Paolo Romero, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Rhodina Villanueva, Gilbert Bayoran, Evelyn Macairan, Emmanuel Tupas