BY IME SORNITO AND RM CALANTAS
ILOILO City – Local officials from both the city and province of Iloilo, along with small rice retailers, welcomed President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s lifting of the price ceiling on regular milled rice priced at P41 per kilogram and well-milled rice at P45 per kilogram.
On Wednesday, Marcos announced the removal of the price cap nearly a month after its enforcement, during a spontaneous interview after distributing confiscated rice to beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program in Taguig City, Metro Manila.
This announcement came a day after Marcos met with officials from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). They presented a report showing positive indicators, justifying the repeal of Executive Order No. 39.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. praised the decision, highlighting that it would allow rice retailers to set prices that better reflect market realities.
He also sees this as a sign of improving rice sufficiency especially in Iloilo, noting, “Our harvest is progressing robustly, and supply levels are stabilizing.”
The governor pointed out that the challenges of constant inflation and rising rice prices prompted the provincial government to push for a rice hybrid program, aiming to augment the province’s harvest yields. They have set an ambitious target to increase rice production from 3.5 metric tons per hectare to 5.5 metric tons by next year.
Dr. Ildefonso Toledo, provincial agriculturist, shared the province’s plans to allocate 60,000 bags of hybrid rice as part of the hybrid rice program from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6. At present, hybrid rice cultivation stands at 3,000 hectares in the province.
This initiative was largely due to Defensor’s P30-million funding towards the Province-Led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Systems (PAFES).
The program aims to expand rice cultivation across 6,000 hectares not included in this year’s DA hybridization program.
Under PAFES, each eligible farmer can receive up to two bags of hybrid seeds, one per hectare of rice land.
Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas welcomed the removal of the rice cap, too, stating, “Prices will now be guided by market forces.”
He recalled that the city’s small rice retailers had expressed concerns during the price cap’s enforcement.
Arecio Casing Jr., regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), noted that increased rice production in parts of the country, especially Western Visayas, influenced the decision to lift the cap.
“There is no more need to control the price of rice. Let us allow market forces do their job. We are hopeful this will soon result to lower rice prices,” said Casing.
Rice retailers express relief
Novie Lago, a retailer from Iloilo province, said the removal of the price cap would allow them to offer competitive prices to consumers, benefiting both parties.
Emannuel Placente, a retailer at Pavia, Iloilo’s public market, and Isidra Gumapal, another rice retailer from Pavia, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the relief from being restricted to the previously mandated prices.
“Indi na kami ma-pressure, either panuboan ukon pataasan. Pero waay man kami nagasiling nga naga-take advantage gid nga pasakaan,” said Placente.
Gumapal said she can now recover her losses from the previous weeks, especially since she did not receive the P15,000 government subsidy for rice retailers.
“Pero siempre kinahanglan banta-bataon nga indi man tama kataas, insakto lang nga presyo nga makaginansya gamay lang man,” stressed Gumapal.
On Sept. 5, Marcos enforced the price cap on rice in an attempt to prevent market manipulation by individuals such as hoarders and smugglers, who were driving rice prices up to as high as P60 per kilo.
However, adherence to this price cap was challenging for rice retailers, especially given the high logistics costs associated with the business.
This difficulty led the government to offer qualified small rice retailers a P15,000 subsidy coursed through the Department of Social Welfare and Development./PN
