Speaker Martin Romualdez on Thursday urged rice traders to sell their rice in Kadiwa stores to ensure that consumers have access to the agricultural commodity at an affordable price and help them cope with the rising prices.
Romualdez made the call as he led a team from the House of Representatives on a fact-finding mission and inspected large rice warehouses in Bulacan, where they concluded that rice hoarding has been happening that caused the spike in rice prices.
Upon invitation from Bureau of Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, Romualdez and other House leaders joined in inspecting FS Rice Mill, San Pedro Warehouse, and Great Harvest Rice Meal Warehouse located in the boundaries of Bocaue and Balagtas towns in Bulacan.
Romualdez said that based on their assessment, the accumulation of rice stocks in their warehouses could be adequate for a three-month supply.
“‘Yung karamihan ng [rice] suplay dito aabot na ng three months eh, technically, that’s hoarding… Kasi pag ini-embudo mo, ‘pag hino-hoard mo tumataas. Greed ‘yan eh ‘di ba, gusto mo kumita (The rice supply here could last for up to three months. Technically, that’s hoarding. Because if you funnel it, hoard it, then [the price] increases. That’s greed because you want to profit from that),” he said.
“‘Yung assessment talaga natin, sapat na suplay lalo na ‘yung galing sa ibayong-dagat pero mataas na rin ‘yung presyo. Pero nakita din natin sapat na suplay pero medyo matagal na naho-hold. Dapat kung ano ‘yung pinasok, ilabas kagad, ibaba kaagad at reasonable price dahil masyadong mataas ngayon ang presyo (Our assessment is that we have sufficient supply, especially from imports, but the prices are still high. We also saw that we have enough rice supply, but they’ve been on hold for so long. Whatever is stored in the warehouse should be released immediately to the market at a reasonable price because the prices currently are too high),” he added.
Romualdez also lamented that some rice traders have been exploiting the international price adjustments to jack up rice prices in the local market.
“Kaya ‘yung gusto natin, ‘yung naging payo natin ilabas na nila, ibaba na kasi nakaka-awa na ‘yung taumbayan… Meron naman tayong mga outlet gaya ng Kadiwa kung saan pwede nating ibaba (That’s why our advice is for them to release it to the market because our countrymen are already in a distressful state… We have outlets like Kadiwa where we could sell rice),” he said.
For his part, Quezon Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, the chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, said rice hoarding is economic sabotage in its “highest degree”.
“It not only destabilizes prices in the market through arbitrary manipulation, but it also adversely affects the ability of Filipino families to cope with day-to-day living. And for that, hoarders should be applied the full force of the law,” Enverga said.
ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo said the inspection is in support of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s efforts in alleviating the plight of Filipino families now reeling from the high cost of rice.
“We want our citizens to know that their government is doing something to bring down the price of rice,” Tulfo said.
Romualdez said the price of rice has been steadily rising with retailers selling at PHP50 to PHP62 per kilogram in Metro Manila for the past few weeks.
He said inspections such as these send a “powerful signal” to all the hoarders and manipulators out there to “stop burdening the Filipino people for profit.”
“Aside from our oversight functions under the law, we are also doing this in aid of legislation, as we have pending measures in the House of Representatives that seek to penalize the act of hoarding rice and other basic agricultural necessities,” Romualdez said.
Representatives Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr., Brian Yamsuan and Wilbert Lee all filed bills seeking to strengthen anti-agricultural smuggling laws and stiffer penalties for hoarders, price manipulators and even government officials involved in the crime.
Romualdez said he is set to inspect more rice warehouses, as the country enter the so-called “lean months” in terms of rice harvests, which is the time when hoarders and price manipulators take advantage and withhold the rice supply in their possession from the market to increase the costs.
“Ang masama pa rito, ang mahihirap na taong-bayan ang pinaparusahan niyo (What’s worse is the poor Filipinos are suffering because of these practices). These are the people who make ends meet for their families. This is why rice hoarding is unforgivable,” he said.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil earlier said the early harvest of palay (unhusked rice) planted during the wet cropping season will give a boost to rice supply and stabilize the retail prices of the staple.
Garafil said the initial harvest of palay will commence in Isabela, Nueva Ecija and North Cotabato provinces by last week of August until September. (PNA)
