MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte must set a price ceiling for basic food commodities, including rice, to temper inflation, former Trade undersecretary Vic Dimagiba said on Tuesday.
Dimagiba, who now serves as the president of Laban Konsyumer, Inc., was referring to Section 7 of the Price Act.
The law allows the President, upon recommendation of the implementing agency, or the Price Coordinating Council, to impose a price ceiling on any basic necessity or prime commodity.
This mandate can be exercised during times of calamities, a state of emergency, prevalent price manipulations, or any event that causes artificial and unreasonable increases in prices of basic necessities or prime commodities.
In some cases, the President may impose a price ceiling when prime commodities simply rose to unreasonable levels.
Inflation soared to 6.4 percent in August 2018, a nine-year high.
“Kami [sa Laban Konsyumer] ang unang nagsabi na kapag ‘ber’ months na the demand will go up. More people will buy goods. Kaya isinusulong namin ‘yung [paggamit] ng price ceiling dahil hindi gumaganda ang presyo ng mga bilihin,” Dimagiba said in an interview.
A price ceiling is different from price control. The Price Act defines price control as automatic freezing of prevailing prices of basic necessities in an area that has been declared a disaster area or placed under a state of calamity or emergency, or when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus has been suspended.
When martial law has been declared in a particular place, or declared to be in a state of rebellion, or a state of war then the President can exercise his or her mandate on prices.
“Kung nagtatrabaho ka sa gobyerno, lagi kang positive thinker. Pero ang numbers, negative. In denial sila, kaya makakatulong ang price ceiling. May mga Senador na rin na nanawagan,” Dimagiba noted.
NFA rice is priced at P27 to 32 per kilo, but the NFA rice shortage has jacked up the prices of commercial rice at P42 to P70 per kilo.
Dimagiba claimed that the shortage of state-subsidized NFA rice speaks volumes of the incompetence of the National Food Authority and the NFA Council.
The policy-setting council is composed of 11 government agencies, including the Office of the President and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Under its governing mandate, the NFA needs the approval of the council before it can import rice.
“It is a classic example of mismanagement of the regulators in terms of the regulators. Alam naman nila how many Filipinos are buying and eating NFA rice, whether it is imported or from local farmers,” Dimagiba claimed.
“May 10-year roadmap kami na iniwan. Besides, they should not blame the calamities. We have better weather conditions than years ago when we had ‘Yolanda’ (2013) and ‘Ondoy’ (2009). The NFA has a roadmap concerning prices so that it won’t bleed [from subsidy],” he said.
“Hindi siguro nagbasa, or gumawa ng sarili. Ni parang hindi nila alam ang target market nila. Hindi nila alam ang ginagawa nila,” Dimagiba added. (GMA News)
