Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday welcomed the significant decline in the prices of rice after confirming the availability of rice selling by as low as P42 per kilo during a visit to three key markets in Metro Manila Wednesday morning, a press release from the House of Representatives said.
The Speaker visited Guadalupe Market in Makati, as well as the Farmers’ Market and Nepa Q-Mart in Quezon City upon the invitation of the Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders’ Movement (PRISM), a large organization of rice traders, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture.
He attributed the drop in rice prices to the effective interventions made by the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. to reduce the costs of the Filipino staple, stabilize the food supply and protect consumers from price surges.
“On behalf of the House of Representatives, we welcome this positive development. This is truly in line with the Marcos administration’s commitment to ensuring that food, particularly rice, remains affordable and accessible for all Filipinos,” the leader of the 300-plus-strong House of Representatives added.
He expressed hopes the trend will continue to bring much-needed relief to Filipino families, particularly in the coming Christmas season.
In addition to the decisive action of Marcos on rice tariff, Romualdez also cited the initiatives of the House leadership, including collaboration with rice traders, as a factor in the drop in the price of the staple food.
It could be recalled that Romualdez led fact-finding missions to inspect rice warehouses in Bulacan, where instances of hoarding were discovered. These investigations, he noted, have been crucial in bringing unscrupulous traders to light and ensuring that rice stocks are released to the market.
DA Asec. Guevarra said that additional farm input programs being implemented by the department is expected to boost rice productivity by next year, which could further bring down prices of the staple food.
Meanwhile, Romualdez also called on local government units and private stakeholders to support ongoing initiatives aimed at bringing down the cost of essential goods, emphasizing that everyone has a role to play in stabilizing the market.*
