​Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña has called on the government to take action against rice cartels, which according to him are the only ones benefitting from high price of rice even as ordinary Filipinos struggle to make ends meet.

Cendaña's call came as the Department of Agriculture (DA) was expected to declare a food security emergency this week after the price of imported rice now soared from P48 to P65 per kilo.

The lawmaker called for punishment on fhose behind rice cartels for manipulating the distribution of a basic commodity and for profiteering.

"'Yung pinaka-basic na pagkaing nasa hapag ng karaniwang Pilipino, hindi na niya ma-afford. Dapat nating wakasan ang profiteering ng mga rice cartels at ng mga hoarders dahil sila lang ang nakikinabang sa mataas na presyo ng bigas (Ordinary Filipinos can no longer afford the most basic of their needs. We should end the profiteering of the rice cartels and hoarders because they are the only ones benefiting from the high price of rice)," he said.

"We need to teach these greedy, exploitative businessmen a lesson — kulong kung kulong (jail them if needed). Kung hindi natin ilalabas ang pangil natin (If we won't get strict), we’ll be stuck in a loophole of food security emergencies," he added.

Cendaña also emphasized how supporting local farmers can boost the local economy and prevent future food emergencies like this.

"Kung mayroon tayong (If we only have) enough locally produced rice, we would not face a food security emergency. We have to realize that this issue is rooted in our dependency on rice importation. Now, our focus should be to invest in our local farmers and ensure that our government subsidies do not negatively impact them," he said.

"We are positioned as the second fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia, and we can escalate this further by supporting our local industries, " Cendaña added.