The compliance of rice retailers to the government’s rice price cap is so far at 80 to 90 percent, Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) Director Gerald Glenn Panganiban said.

“As we monitor, 80 to 90 percent compliance ang ating retailers sa price cap na inilagay – P41 for the regular and P45 for the well-milled (As we monitor, the compliance of rice retailers to the price cap is at 80 to 90 percent),” he said during a Malacañang briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

According to Panganiban, the compliance rate of rice retailers increased when the report that the bumper harvest was coming.

He assured that the rice price ceiling is just temporary, saying the cap was imposed to stop the increasing prices of rice in the market.

“What the President wants is really to have a stable supply and that being translate to stable prices in the market. So, kami sa DA (us in the DA), we continue with the production ano. I think the market will take care of itself but at that point in time, again temporary measure lang naman siya so we will see kung anong magiging decision ng Presidente (if what’s the decision of the President on this),” said Panganiban.

President Marcos, who concurrently heads the DA, has yet to lift the imposition of the rice price cap which was implemented on Sept. 5 through Executive Order No. 39.

For the DA, Panganiban said that it seems that it is about time to lift the rice price ceiling.

Panganiban noted that the country will produce 1.9 million metric tons (MMT) of rice this October.

Recently, DA Senior Usec. Domingo F. Panganiban said the rice price cap being imposed by the government may last until October if the retail price of rice does not drop to P38 a kilo.

The agriculture department’s monitoring showed that the retail price of rice went down by P5 per kilo, he said.

To recall, Marcos said during his campaign that he was aspiring to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo.