PBBM focused on addressing spike in rice prices – Palace

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

FILE: Workers unload sacks of rice from a truck along Dagupan Street in Tondo, Manila on Wednesday (Feb. 7, 2024). (PNA photo by Yancy Lim)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. remains committed to addressing the rising prices of food commodities, particularly rice, Malacañang said on Friday.

In an interview with dzBB, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Marcos is currently looking into the possible root cause of the sudden spike in rice prices.

“Sa food security, tinututukan iyan ng Pangulo. At inaalam din kung saan ba dapat ang magandang paraan para ito ay ma-lessen kung may problema man diyan. ‘Yun naman ang laging ginagawa ng Pangulo (In food security, the President is focusing on that. And he is also figuring out the best way to alleviate it, if there is a problem there. That is what the President always does),” Castro said.

“Tututukan ito mabuti ng Pangulo kung ano ang nagiging problema kung bakit hindi pa yata bumababa sobra ang presyo ng bigas (The President will focus on why rice prices have not decreased).”

She warned of stiff sanctions against economic saboteurs, specifically smugglers and hoarders, who are manipulating the prices of agricultural products.

“Behind our back, may gumagawa ng ganiyang mga krimen (someone is committing those kinds of crimes). Hindi iyan makakalagpas sa Pangulo kaya iisa-isahin natin iyan (That won’t get past the President, so we’ll go after them one by one),” she said.

In a sectoral meeting at Malacañan Palace in Manila on Feb. 18, Marcos sought a “unified” approach to stabilize food prices, as well as new policies to shield consumers from market volatility,

During the meeting, Marcos and the implementing agencies of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act also discussed cutting down smuggling and stabilizing the prices of food products.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Feb. 4 declared a food security emergency for rice to address the “extraordinary” price increases in retail price.

On Wednesday, the DA announced a reduction in the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of 5-percent broken imported rice to PHP49 per kg. starting March 1. The MSRP was earlier set at PHP52 per kg., down from PHP55 per kg. on Feb. 15.