DTI exec: Only Marcos can lift price ceiling

MANILA, Philippines — Only President Marcos can lift Executive Order No. 39 mandating the price ceiling of rice at P41 and P45 per kilo, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Thursday amid calls to withdraw the price cap within two to three weeks.

At a press conference, DTI Assistant Secretary Agaton Uvero said the DTI and Department of Agriculture (DA) need to consider various factors before recommending to the President the lifting of EO 39.

“It is only the President who can lift (the EO),” Uvero said, noting that the DTI and DA can recommend the withdrawal of the price cap once retail prices of rice stabilize.

“That will be based on the actual monitoring on the ground. There are provinces which were able to comply as affordable rice is already available. It is usually problematic in big cities like Metro Manila,” he added.

According to Uvero, the DTI does not arrest violators of the price cap and only issues warnings against those who fail to comply. “It is for this reason that we are talking with the (rice) associations, retailers to have cooperation instead of using force,” he said.

On the other hand, Uvero said the government can start distribution of the P15,000 assistance to retailers within the week. “We have a target date to start the distribution ... We only have issues on logistics, verification and distribution. As soon as we finalize this, we will inform the public ... Like for the National Capital Region, there are more than 10,000 (rice) retailers,” he said.

Uvero said based on records of the DTI, there are at least 50,000 retailers nationwide. He met with members of the rice retailers’ group Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines (GRECON) at the National Food Authority as they discussed the implementation of EO 39.

GRECON national president James Magbanua vowed that his members will comply with the price cap.

“We are willing to comply. That is the reason why we are here, because we want to help the government. They (retailers) are committed to help, compliant despite their losses,” Magbanua said.

He said that farmgate price of palay already went down to P15 to P16 per kilo in Panay Island a week after the announcement of the price ceiling.

“Since last week, the farmgate price of fresh palay went down from P21, P20, it decreased to P15, P16 per kilo. The farmers will suffer here so we need a long term solution to address this issue on agricultural production,” Magbanua said. – Ric Sapnu