Quezon 1st district Rep. Mark Enverga (left), Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo (PPAB)

Solons blasted the Department of Agriculture (DA) for insisting on the hefty maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of P58 per kilo for imported premium rice, despite mounting criticism from Congress and the public.

During a hearing of the House quinta-committee (quinta-comm) on Tuesday, Jan. 28, congressmen branded the price cap as excessively high and harmful to consumers. Worse, it is a policy that emboldens collusion among rice retailers.

They slammed the DA’s decision to maintain the P58 price cap while planning only gradual reductions to P55 in February and P49 in March. They called the agency’s approach both ineffectual and out of touch with the realities faced by struggling Filipino households.

Quezon 1st district Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, a co-chairman of the quinta-comm--also known as the "Murang Pagkain Super-committee"--questioned the rationale behind the "unnecessarily high" P58 MSRP.

“The goal should be to influence the supply chain to reduce profit margins across the board. But why are we allowing such a large markup? Shouldn’t we pressure everyone to adjust their profit margins instead?” he asked.

Enverga further criticized the DA’s plan to gradually lower the price, as he asserted that immediate reductions are more beneficial.

“If the MSRP can go down, then it should go down immediately. Why wait? Why allow additional profits for traders and retailers when prices can already be lowered?” he argued.

Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo delivered an even sharper rebuke, as she desdribed the MSRP as a direct enabler of anti-competitive practices.

She said the DA’s price ceiling effectively gave retailers a government-approved excuse to collude at high prices for the staple grain.

“Ang nangyayari is they (retailers) now collude around the higher MSRP. Sasabihin ng mga retailers, ‘Eh allowed naman pala ang MSRP na P58. O tayong lahat, magbenta na lang tayo at P58.’ Kahit na kaya naman pala nila magbenta at P38,” Quimbo said.

(What's happening is that retailers now collude around the higher MSRP. The retailers will say, 'Since the MSRP of P58 is allowed, let's all sell rice at P58.' Even if they can actually sell it at P38.)

“Kumbaga, naging (In other words, it has become) government-endorsed collusion. Instead of transparency and competition, this creates a market standard that works against the public,” she added.

Bulacan 2nd district Rep. Tina Pancho called he DA’s P58 price as fundamentally unfair to the Filipino people.

“Napakataas po nito. Parang ang nangyayari po, ang gobyerno ang nagbibigay ng pahintulot na ibenta ito sa mataas dahil ‘yun ang legal. So, hindi po talaga tayo bababa,” Pancho said.

(This is very high. What's happening is that the government itself is allowing the high prices because it's legal. So that means prices won't go down.)

DA Assistant Secretary Genevieve Guevarra defended the agency’s pricing decision.

She explained that the P58 MSRP was based on global rice prices, freight, insurance, and tariffs. She said that compliance in Metro Manila markets was high.

“Ngayon po sa pagmo-monitor natin, dalawa na lang pong brands ang nakikita natin na nasa P58 na range na ‘yan. Lahat po halos ng 30 markets na mino-monitor natin ngayon ay nagko-comply sa P58 MSRP,” Guevarra said.

(Based on our current monitoring, we only see two brands within the P58 range. Almost all of the 30 markets that we're monitoring have complied with the P58 MSRP.)

“The secretary (Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.) has declared that the plan is to lower it to P55 and then to P49 as long as world market prices allow,” she told the House members.

The quinta-comm, led by overall chairman Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, has demanded a full written explanation from the DA on the mechanics and computations of the MSRP.