House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Solons comprising the House quinta-committee (quinta-comm) slammed the apparent lack of urgency from the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and National Food Authority (NFA) to bring down prices of rice--the Filipino staple food.

During the quinta-comm's hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 28, the congressmen called out agency officials for their failure to submit a draft of a food security emergency declaration over a week after President Marcos announced that he favored such a pronouncement.

“The declaration of recommendation to declare a food security emergency, umiikot na po ‘yung papel (the paper is going around),” DA Undersecretary Christopher Morales informed the so-called "Murang Pagkain Super-committee" chaired by Albay 2nd Rep. Joey Salceda.

Wondering what the delay was about, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo asked, “Ano pa ‘yung kulang? (What is missing?)”

“We’re still waiting for the recommendation from the NPCC (National Price Coordinating Council) for the declaration. Yung paper po kasi I think umiikot nga (I think the paper is going around)," Morales answered.

To this, Salceda commented: “Oh my God.”

Oriental Mindoro 1st district Rep. Arnan Panaligan helped crystallized Salceda's shock by saying that the concerned officials “have no sense of urgency" on the matter.

“Sabi nga ni Cong. Stella, emergency, papaikutin pa ang papel. ‘Di ba pag may sunog, emergency, magpapa-alam pa ba ‘yung mga bumbero sa kanyang mga superior bago siya makaalis sa sitwasyon?” Panaligan said.

(Like what Cong. Stella said, there's an emergency, but the paper still needs to make its rounds. If there's a fire, an emergency, should the firefighters seek permission from its superiors first before leaving the situation.)

Panaligan urged DA to be “dynamic and aggressive” in the campaign to bring down food prices, particularly that of rice.

Still pricey

In Tuesday’s hearing, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the law prohibits his agency from selling rice without a declaration of a food security emergency.

If and when the President issues such declaration, Lacson said NFA would sell about 300,000 bags of “aging” stocks at P29 per kilo and up to 500,000 bags of “regular” stocks at a “subsidized price” of P38 per kilo.

He said the subsidy, recorded as a loss on the part of NFA, is P10 per kilo, without which the agency would sell its rice at P48.

The NFA chief’s statements prompted Salceda to comment, “So as of now, NFA is doing nothing. Whose fault is that? What did we do, why did we put ‘emergency’ in the law?”

For Quimbo, the NFA's planned selling price of P38 per kilo is still pricey. She told the committee that in one barangay in Marikina, two retailers “were selling their stocks consistently at P39 per kilo".

When Quimbo inquired, the retailers told her that their supply came directly from rice millers in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.

“Why can’t the [DA] do that?” Quimbo asked.

Salceda recalled that in a meeting attended by House members and DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel last month, Bulacan-based rice millers and traders committed to sell their stocks at P37 per kilo.