MANILA, Philippines — The quinta committee of the House of Representatives will investigate the cartels on pork, chicken and vegetable once Congress resumes its regular session this week, according to Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda.
Salceda, quinta comm chairman, yesterday said the committee would intensify its investigation on the high prices of rice in the country.
“We will intensify our fight to lower rice prices,” Salceda, who also chairs the House ways and means committee, added.
Citing latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Bicolano lawmaker noted that global rice prices are at around $427 to $500 per metric ton, which means landed price should be at around P34-P36 per kilo.
“One of the main drivers of the uptrend, we suspect, is overpricing by supermarkets, which sell on a per-kilo basis at as much as P70 per kilo,” he said, stressing that this is unacceptable.
He added that the highest quality Thai indica rice is just at P41 per kilo once landed and imposed all applicable duties and taxes.
“The representative of the supermarkets in the quinta comm hearings made an incorrect assertion that consumer preferences are driving prices up,” Salceda said.
He added that the Bureau of Plant Industry has made a similar assertion on record.
“Clearly, based on import prices, even the best quality rice should not be at these levels. I remind our resource persons that while I hesitated to cite invitees in contempt during the Christmas season, we are past that now,” Salceda said.