The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) has defended the P41 to P45 rice price ceiling being imposed by the government.

In a “Laging Handa” briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 5, DA-BPI Director Glenn Panganiban said the rice price cap had been studied thoroughly before it was recommended to President and Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr.

“Ito naman pong presyong ito ay hindi naman po nag-come up nang ganoon na lang. Ito po ating inalisa, at ito po ay galing sa nationwide survey at monitoring ng ating programa—‘yung rice program natin, kasama na rin ang pag-monitor ng regional field offices ng DA (This price of rice did not just come up like that. We have analyzed the data from our nationwide survey and monitoring of our program—our rice program, also with data from the monitoring of DA’s regional offices),” the DA-BPI official said.

“So ito po ay pinag-aralan at inaverage, at nakita po natin sa pag-aaral ng value chain na ‘yun po ang nararapat na presyo na dapat ay nasa merkado ( So this was studied and averages, and we found out that it was the right price that should be in the market by studying the value chain),” he went on.

The DA-BPI, according to Panganiban, will continue the rice storage warehouses in the country amid the implementation of the rice price cap. The government started the imposition of the price ceiling on Tuesday, Sept. 5

Once the price of rice stabilized, he said the agriculture department and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) may recommend lifting the Executive Order (EO) No. 39 which mandates the imposition of P41 to P45 rice price ceiling.

“Linggo-linggo po tayong nag-mo-monitor, kapag nakita po natin na talagang mayroon nang pagbabago or nag-stabilize na ‘yung presyo doon sa nararapat na presyo ay maaari naman pong magrekomenda ang Department of Agriculture at ang DTI para sa pag-lift ng EO na ito (We are conducting weekly monitoring in the price of rice, if we see that there’s a change or stabilization in the price, the DA and the DTI may recommend the lifting of the EO),” said Panganiban.

Earlier, Marcos approved the recommendation to impose a rice price cap in the country. Through EO No. 39, the mandated price ceiling for regular milled rice is P41 per kilo, while it is P45 per kilo of well-milled rice.

Farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) has recently said the price of rice can be further reduced to P37 per kilo.  Other groups, meanwhile, expressed opposition to the P41 to P45 rice price cap, especially retailers.

On the other hand, farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) has backed the rice price ceiling order of Chief Executive.