Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Thursday urged Cabinet members to address the increasing food prices to prevent an increase in the number of hungry families amid the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
In a statement, Recto said officials should discuss plans to tame "what seems to be runaway prices of food".
"I think this should be on the top of the agenda in the next Cabinet meeting,” The Senate leader said.
"When food prices jump, they go on a forced diet, the magnitude of which is captured by periodic hunger surveys. Kung hindi bababa ang presyo ng pagkain, tataas ang ating GNP — or Gutom na Pilipino — rate (If prices will not go down, the number of Hungry Filipinos will increase),” he said.
Recto noted "alarming" increases even in the government's daily monitoring of agri-fishery commodities.
Citing a Philippine Statistics Authority report, he said, for instance, that as of November 23, price of ampalaya went up by 194 percent from the previous months, while sili (chili) hiked by 200 percent. Cabbage and sayote (chayote) prices doubled within 30 days.
Year-on-year, the price of pechay is up 167 percent; tomato by 133 percent; and red onion by 108 percent.
Galunggong, meanwhile, is being retailed at P250 per kilo as of November 23, while pork is at almost P300 per kilo.
"Kung ang ampalaya ay P235 kada kilo at ang pechay ay P160, paano pa ito mabibili ng isang minimum wage worker (If bitter gourd costs P235 per kilo and pechay is at P160 per kilo, how can a minimum wage worker afford it)?" Recto said.
The mandated daily floor wage is currently P537 in the National Capital Region, which means "a worker has to work almost half a day to buy a kilo of ampalaya,” Recto said.
"At tiyak sasabihin ng mga tao na mas mataas ang bili nila kaysa sa kung ano ang naiulat ng pamahalaan (For sure people will say that actual prices in their markets are higher than what the government has reporte)," he added.
Recto called on trade and agriculture officials to share with the public their plans in bringing down prices of fish, vegetables and meat for the next three months at least.
He also stressed the need for a "quick government-aided turnaround plan" for provinces hit by Typhoon Ulysses as these contribute to the country's food supply.
The six provinces: Isabela, Cagayan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan account for 38 percent of the country's palay harvest, 37 percent of chicken production, almost one-fifth of swine production, and “one big vegetable bowl," he said.