THE leadership of the House of Representatives acted swiftly to help rice retailers that will be affected by the price ceiling on rice.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez instructed the House Committee on Appropriations to find ways to allocate P2 billion that will assist retailers affected by the rice price ceiling imposed by Malacañang last Friday.
Romualdez personally instructed Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, the committee chairman, to immediately coordinate with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the swift allocation of P2 billion to support the rice retailers.
“Our goal is to ensure that we can extend assistance to rice retailers who may be affected by this rice price ceiling, as it is a directive from our President aimed at protecting consumers,” the House Speaker emphasized.
Co, for his part, promptly coordinated with the DBM under Secretary Amenah Pangandaman to find ways and other means to come up with the specified amount.
“We will promptly engage with the DBM to expedite the release of the P2 billion funds for our rice retailers,” Co assured.
Romualdez emphasized that the initiative underscores Congress’s unwavering commitment to fortifying and bolstering the resilience of essential food supply chains, as he earlier disclosed that he will meet with rice retailers nationwide to hear their concerns regarding potential financial losses stemming from the rice price ceiling.
“The government is not insensitive, so we want to listen to their concerns, and we will try to find a solution to address their fears of incurring losses,” the Speaker said.
“We are aware that they have high costs from traders, but our priority is the public’s difficulty in buying rice,” he added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier issued Executive Order No. 39, which sets a P41 per kilo price for regular milled rice and P45 for well-milled rice starting September 5. This action was prompted by government intelligence indicating that certain unscrupulous traders planned to hike rice prices to as high as P70 per kilo.
The Speaker compared this situation to onion prices when onion cartels jacked up prices to P800 per kilo.
Retailers, however, expressed their dissatisfaction, noting that they procure rice from traders for nearly P50 per kilo.
“But rest assured, the government is committed to supporting our retailers affected by this Executive Order,” affirmed the Speaker.