MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday said that an additional rice supply will arrive by the second week of September and clarified that the rice price cap is temporary.
Marcos said the arriving supply will include those from local sources and imports, which he said will give retailers enough reason not to increase prices.
“This is a temporary measure; the rice supply will be coming in the second week of September,” Marcos said in a speech before leaving for Jakarta, Indonesia, for the 43rd Asean Summit.
“Nandiyan na ‘yung ani ng Pilipinas, nandiyan na po yung importation natin, wala na naman talagang magiging dahilan kung bakit tataas ang presyo ng bigas, at maibabalik natin sa dati nating kinasanayan na presyo,” he added.
(The local harvest and the imported rice are coming. Hence, there will be no reason for a price increase, and we can return to the price we were used to.)
The President explained that the government had to step in to control prices, with how retailers have been pricing rice per kilogram above P50, which he then attributed to smugglers and hoarders.
“Ang aking approach pagka-dumating sa ekonomiya ay nais ko, hangga’t maaari, ayaw kong pakialaman ang merkado at pabayaan natin, let the market do its work. Ngunit ay pinapakialaman ang merkado natin kaya’t kailangan pumasok ang pamahalaan, at ito nga ang aming ginawa ay tayo ay naglagay ng price ceiling para sa presyo ng bigas,” said Marcos.
(My approach when it comes to the economy is that I want, as much as possible, I don’t want to mess with the market and leave it alone. Let the market do its work. But our market is being interfered with, so the government had to step in, and this is what we did: put a price ceiling on the price of rice.)
Gov’t to provide assistance to small rice retailers
To address retailers’ woes due to the imposed price ceiling, Marcos bared plans to ease retailers’ losses.
Marcos said that both the Department of Trade and Industry (DA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) are coming up with a list of rice retailers, as well as associations of retailers.
“Habang ginagawa ‘yan ay kinakalkula rin kung ang magiging lugi nung mga rice retailer dahil nga sa price cap, kayat ang DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) naman ay tiniyak namin na meron silang pondo, i-handa, upang pagkanakulkala na natin ang lugi ng mga rice retailer, ay bibigyan naman natin sila ng katumbas na tulong,” explained Marcos.
(While doing that, we also calculated the loss of the rice retailers due to the price cap, so we told the DSWD to prepare funds so that we can cover up the loss of the rice retailers and give them due assistance.)
In an interview with reporters, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian explained that the government will utilize the agency’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), specifically for vulnerable or small-scale rice retailers.
The SLP, said Gatchalian, has been used as a “stop-gap measure” for small-time business during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for business owners in Boracay when it was closed for two months during rehabilitation.
When asked how much the aid will be, Gatchalian responded that it would depend on the list the DA and DTI will come up with.
Marcos, last Friday, Sept. 1, ordered a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular milled rice and P45 per kilogram for well-milled rice effective September 5 nationwide.