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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Recto: PBBM showed 'refreshing honesty' on potential rice price hike

Recto: PBBM showed 'refreshing honesty' on potential rice price hike

Published Aug 1, 2023 06:38 am
House Deputy Speaker and Batangas 6th district Rep. Ralph Recto (left), President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook, Speaker’s office)





House Deputy Speaker and Batangas 6th district Rep. Ralph Recto said President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. displayed "refreshing honesty" when it told Filipinos that prices of their beloved rice could go up. Recto had this to say Tuesday, Aug. 1, even as he discussed a confluence of events that could bring such price hike into fruition. These events are India’s rice export ban, Vietnam’s move to halve its exports, typhoons like "Egay", and the scuttling of the Ukraine grain deal. According to Recto, President Marcos’ warning that rice prices could go up “is refreshing honesty of telling truth to the people that should spur a whole-of-nation action on how to meet the crisis ahead". Among the measures experts were suggesting, Recto said, was to ramp up production “of rice and substitute crops” in areas like Mindanao that are not on the usual typhoon path. Recto said flooding caused by typhoons Egay and Falcon would impact rice and corn supply as the three regions affected – Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon – account for 44 percent of national rice production and 79 percent of corn. “These are agricultural powerhouses that not only serve as our grain granary but a major supplier of poultry, pork and other livestock,” said the former Senate President Pro Tempore. However, the easy solution of importation when local production dips “is not as straightforward anymore due to convulsions in the world market", he said. “Hindi na madaling umorder ng unli rice sa mundo. Ang binibitawan lang ng ibang bansa ay ang kanilang surplus production. Priority nila ang local demand (It's no longer easy to order unli rice from the world. Other countries only let go of their surplus production, anyway. Their priority is local demand)," Recto said. "And this is where grains nationalism comes in. Kasi kung walang bigas sa mesa, mag-aalsa ang masa (If there's no rice on the table, then the masses will rise up),” he said, pun intended. Rice is the staple food of  Filipinos.

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Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. ralph recto rice
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