BACOLOD City – The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) in Negros Occidental is monitoring the compliance of rice dealers to the price ceiling imposed by President and concurrent Department of Agriculture (DA) head Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Dr. Dina Gensola, officer-in-charge of OPA, said yesterday morning that her office is helping the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Regular price monitoring is one of OPA’s functions, she added.
OPA’s agri-business section will also submit their documentation with pictures to the DA regional office.
Local government units in the province are also mandated to conduct monitoring.
However, Gensola admitted that OPA does not have police powers to impose penalties on those violating the rice price ceiling.
She pointed out that it would be up to the DA and the DTI to deal with the violators.
On Aug. 31, the President approved the recommendation to impose mandated price ceilings on rice amid the current surge in retail prices nationwide.
Marcos set a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular milled rice and P45 per kilogram for well-milled rice.
The order came into effect yesterday.
Marcos also ordered the DTI and DA to ensure the implementation of price ceilings and monitor and investigate abnormal price movements of rice in the market.
The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, has been ordered to crack down on warehouses suspected of hoarding and illegally importing rice and to confiscate them as may be warranted by the law. (Watchmen Daily Journal)
