Senator Risa Hontiveros has urged the Senate to conduct an inquiry into the uncoordinated and contradicting policies of the government on rice regulation.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senate PRIB Photo)

Hontiveros, in filing Senate Resolution No. 794, called on the Senate to look into President Marcos’ issuance of Executive Order No. 39, which seeks to impose a mandatory price ceiling on regular milled and well-milled rice, that took effect last Sept. 5, 2023.

The senator noted economists have opposed such measure as they warned of the enormous losses to farmers and retailers and the greater economic strain on consumers EO No. 39 will bring about.

Marcos, concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), issued EO 39 supposedly to help arrest the current surge in the retail price of rice in the country. The President concurrently heads the DA.

But many sectors and lawmakers have expressed concern over the possibility of EO39 encouraging, rather than curbing hoarding, profiteering activities and the proliferation of cartels.

“A former Department of Agriculture (DA) undersecretary predicts that we will soon see rice shortage, black markets and rice queues, making rice even less accessible and risking critical supply which hurt the poorest of Filipinos most,” Hontiveros stated in the explanatory note of the resolution, which she filed on September 12.

She also noted that even Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on September 11, that the Department of Finance (DOF), the administration’s economic team, was not consulted on the mandatory price ceiling.

“Contrary to EO 39’s purported goal of protecting farmers and the agriculture sector, Sec. Diokno also announced the DOF’s proposal to reduce rice import tariff rates to zero percent, which would be disastrous to local farmers especially given the upcoming harvest season,” the senator added.

“Such proposal would also contradict the administration’s past statements bolstering the need for government-to-government importation of rice,” she said.

In the resolution, Hontiveros also sought an explanation on why the National Food Authority (NFA) failed to utilize its P7-billion subsidy to maintain a sufficient rice buffer stock sourced solely from local farmers.

“There is an evident lack of leadership, coordination and cohesion in the country’s policies on rice regulation, to the grave risk and detriment of the people,” she said.

"Thus, there is a need for...the Senate to conduct an investigation in aid of legislation into the uncoordinated and contradicting policies on rice regulation," Hontiveros stressed.