MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday said the drop in rice prices in the country shows the food crisis is "well in hand for now."

In a speech during her visit to the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Hospital in Shariff Kabunsuan, Arroyo also reiterated that the government has a comprehensive agriculture program aimed at increasing food production in place and is implementing measures to curb price manipulation of rice and other basic commodities.

She said that the price per kilo of rice has stabilized between P32 to P35 in General Santos City and, in North Cotabato, she said it is now as low as P26 per kilo, although she acknowledged that in the rest of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), rice prices remain relatively high.

"Kung naaayos na [ang rice prices] sa ibang lugar [If rice prices are stabilizing in some places], we can say we have the world food crisis well in hand for now," she said. "We have done this with our farming programs, combined with more vigilance against over pricing and price manipulation?"

She said the surge in fuel and food prices has created a "global price crisis" and that the country "must continue to build and buttress bridges to neighbors and strengthen allies around the world to bring in the rice we need to feed our people."

Arroyo said the incidence of hunger in Mindanao has gone down over the past months. She said that, while the region has attained high productivity, it also hosts six or seven of the 10 poorest provinces in the country.

She vowed to use government revenues, including those from the 12-percent value added tax, to improve the region.