President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday, Sept. 4, assured rice retailers that the price cap imposed on rice will not last long and that the government is ready to help them shoulder the losses caused by his directive.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his departure speech at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. He left for Jakarta, Indonesia to participate in the 43rd ASEAN Summit. (RTVM screenshot)
He made the appeal in his pre-departure speech at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City, from where he left to attend the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia from Sept. 5 to 7.
“Kaya’t ang pangalawa, wag po kayong mag-aalala, ‘yung mga rice retailer, nauunawan po namin kaagad na maaabala kayo dahil iisipin nga ninyo na may malulugi (So secondly, don’t worry, to the rice retailers, we understand that this is a disturbance because you will think about the losses),” he said.
“Andiyan ang gobyerno ninyo upang magbigay ng tulong para sa inyong lahat para naman bawi ang nalugi ninyo dahil sa price cap (Your government is there to help all of you to recover the losses because of the price cap),” the President added.
Currently, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), which Marcos heads in a concurrent capacity, are making a list of rice retailers who will be impacted by the price cap.
They are also determining how much the losses would be incurred from the price cap imposed last week to ensure reasonably priced and conveniently accessible rice to Filipinos amid the alarming increase in rice retail prices.
“Kaya’t ang DSWD naman ay tiniyak namin na meron silang pondo, ihanda, upang pagnakalkula na natin ang lugi ng mga rice retailer, ay bibigyan naman natin sila ng katumbas na tulong (So the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] we made sure they have the funds ready so when we determine the losses of the rice retailers, we can provide help),” he shared.
Describing the price cap as a “temporary measure,” the Chief Executive assured that enough rice supply “will be coming in (by) the second week of September.”
The supply will come from the country’s harvest season and the imported rice.
The President, whose campaign promise was to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo, admitted that the price cap worries some sectors.
“Ngunit gagawin natin ito upang makatiyak naman ang taong bayan na hindi napakalaki ang kanilang ginagastos para naman sa kanilang pagkain, para sa bigas (But we will do this to ensure that our fellowmen won’t need to spend so much for their food, for rice),” he explained.
Before the price cap, rice per kilo reached more than P56.
But under Executive Order 39, the mandated price ceiling for regular milled rice is P41 per kilogram, while the mandated price cap for well-milled rice is P45 per kilogram.
Marcos said that aside from smugglers and hoarders, the DA cannot find any other reason why the prices of rice were skyrocketing in the local markets.
But while there is an intensified campaign against rice smuggling and hoarding and despite his misgivings against price controls, Marcos stressed the need for the price cap because Filipinos would suffer more if the government does not intervene.