Some senators on Friday, September 1 find it unnecessary for the government to impose a price ceiling on rice as addressing rice cartel and hoarding should have been the primary move of the government to tame the skyrocketing prices of the basic food staple in the market.
Senators pointed this out after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. mandated a price ceiling for regular milled rice at P41 per kilo, and price cap for well-milled rice at P45.
“Price controls are ‘cures’ that could be even worse than the disease. Ito ba ang reseta ng mga ekonomista ng Malacanang, o ng spin doctors nila? Medyo trabahong tamad ang price control (Is this the recommendation of Malacañang’s economic managers or their spin doctors? Imposing a price control is sloppy work),” House Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a statement.
“If there are hoarders who want to reduce the rice supply in the market and jack up the price, then they should be caught. Wala pa bang nahanap na ebidensya ang NBI pagkatapos silang utusan ng Presidente bago mag-SONA (Has the NBI yet to find any evidence after they received orders from the President before the State of the Nation Address)?” she lamented.
Yet even if there are no hoarders, Hontiveros said she believes a rice price hike is inevitable because there was not enough aid for expensive fertilizers.
She pointed out that the Department of Agriculture (DA) did not take care to provide insurance to more farmers for the crops that were flooded. She also said Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban stopped traders who want to import to supplement the lack of local rice production.
In the middle of disaster, Hontiveros also noted the National Food Authority (NFA) could not even release rice supplies.
“Hiniling ko noon sa Senado na repasuhin ang Rice Tariffication Law. Dahil sa nakaraang taon ay inipit ang pag-issue ng permits para sa importasyon ng bigas at hindi nakaipon ng buffer stock ang NFA — kontra sa utos ng RTL. Bukod sa RTL, kailangang repasuhin din ang pamamalakad sa DA at NFA (I, then, asked the Senate to review the Rice Tariffication Law. Because last year the issuance of permits for the importation of rice was delayed and the NFA did not accumulate a buffer stock — contrary to the order of the RTL. Apart from the RTL, there is also a need to review the management of the DA and National Food Authority),” she said.
Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito echoed Hontiveros’ view: “What needs to be done is try to address smuggling, profiteering, cartels and hoarding for the local agricultural industry to fluorish and for the price of rice and other agri products to stabilize,” he said.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero agrees that the President is empowerd to impose a price ceiling on goods, but the invocation of the President’s power to impose a price ceiling for rice under the law is that there is an emergency or that there is widespread “profiteering, hoarding or price manipulation.”
“Is there? Or are prices just really high because of lack of supply or higher cost of inputs? If there is, why hasn’t government arrested and/or sued anyone for such acts which are illegal?” Escudero asked.
Escudero said the only way the government can properly resolve the issue is by admitting there is a problem and finding solutions to stop and prevent it from happening again.
“(They should) admit that there is widespread hoarding or profiteering and price manipulation of rice, arrest and file cases against the perpetrators, …(and) allocate a bigger budget for agriculture,” the senator stressed.
“As I pointed out, a flood control budget of ₱255-billion vis-a-vis an agriculture budget of ₱181-billion will not cut it! Government should put its money where its mouth is if we are to be rid of this perineal problem on rice,” he said.
On the other hand, Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said he believes the President’s move to impose a price ceiling on rice is a “move to crackdown on cartels who hoard rice and then try to extract excessive profits and manipulate markets during times of scarce supply.”
“Let’s hope the ceiling imposed still incentivizes people enough to still import to maintain supply in the market and also to stabilize the price,” Angara said.