Alcala draws support but prices, supply baffle senator

KIDAPAWAN CITY—A local group of irrigators declared support for Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala as a senator raised questions about the continuing increase in rice prices despite assurances from the Department of Agriculture that supply is sufficient.

In a manifesto sent to President Aquino, the Regional Confederation of Irrigators in Central Mindanao said the group is “strongly supporting the programs of the government, particularly the Department of Agriculture under the leadership of Secretary Alcala.”

In a statement, however, Sen. Loren Legarda questioned why prices are still high despite assurances made by agriculture officials that supply is sufficient.

According to Legarda, Orlan Calayag, administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), had given a statement that the NFA inventory is “bigger this year compared to the same period last year and we don’t foresee any shortage.”

“I have yet to see the positive impact of this on rice prices,” Legarda’s statement said.

Legarda, at a hearing on her resolution seeking an investigation of rice prices and supply, raised questions about why, despite “the buffer stock, despite the fact that the effects of climate change are not as bad on rice these days, prices continue to go up?”

The irrigators’ group kept faith in Alcala, however. Jeny Duenas, head of the irrigators’ group, said reports of irregularities in the use of priority development assistance fund (PDAF), or pork, by the agriculture department “should not be made a basis to condemn the entire organization.”

The irrigators’ manifesto said under Alcala, the department provided Central Mindanao with various grants and programs to improve harvest.

Legarda said that according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), the retail prices for regular-milled and well-milled rice are almost P4 higher than last year. Regular milled rice cost P32.4 pesos last year. This year it costs P36.1. Well milled rice in 2012 was P35.6. Today it costs P39.2.

“If you look at the trend last year, the retail prices of regular-milled and well-milled rice slightly peaked during the lean season, as expected, then normalized. This year, not only have the price hikes during the lean season been significantly higher, they have also failed to normalize at the expected time,” said Legarda in her statement. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao