Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Rep. Salceda's office)

The implications of the Philippine's gross domestic product (GDP) performance in 2024 has emboldened Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda as to the importance of the House quinta-committee's (quinta-comm) work.

In a statement, Salceda said, "5.6 percent is solid growth considering the global challenges. That said, we need to sort out government spending, which grew slower than our nominal GDP growth targets."

This was after the country posted a full-year GDP growth of 5.6 percent last year.

Salceda, overall chairman of the quinta-comm, also known as the "Murang Pagkain Super-committee", reckoned that "Food must be agenda number one for all of government."

"There are signs that consumers have shifted away from discretionary expenses that cause economic growth and towards more basic food items like rice," said the economist-lawmaker.

"That is why the work of the Murang Pagkain Super-committee is critical to achieving faster growth in 2025. People need to be able to afford food first before they feel confident to spend on other things," he underscored.

Formed in the current 19th Congress under House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the quinta-comm has carried out five public hearings so far.

It has been focused on helping the Marcos administration reduce the prices of rice--the Filipino staple food.

Recently, the Murang Pagkain Super-committee took to task the Department of Agriculture (DA) for setting a rather hefty maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for rice at P58 per kilo.

This infuriated panel members especially after it was learned in the course of the hearings that the staple grain could theoretically be sold at under P40 at detail.