Lawmakers on Wednesday urged the National Food Authority (NFA) to look into the reported price manipulation by rice traders in Mindanao, where the prices of the staple grain spiked from P55 to P70 per kilo.
Zamboanga City Rep. Celso L. Lobregat and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City issued separate statements after receiving reports of “abnormally high” rice prices in Mindanao.
Lobregat also asked the national government to direct the NFA to expedite the release and distribution of NFA rice to the affected areas to stabilize the soaring prices of local commercial rice.
“We need to step up the distribution of NFA rice in the region,” he said. “Agriculture Secretary [Emmanuel F.] Piñol has visited Zamboanga [last Monday] to assess the situation,” Lobregat added.
Reports reaching lawmakers indicated these prices of rice in Region 9: Dipolog, Zamboanga del Norte, P55 to P60 per kilo; Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur, P55 to P60 per kilo; Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, P55 to P60 per kilo; and Zamboanga City, P60 to P68 per kilo.
They added rice prices are pegged at P60 to P70 per kilo in Basilan.
NFA rice is priced at P27 a kilo and is the most affordable rice variety in the market. The NFA said the current scarcity of rice in the country is due to the spate of bad weather, which has affected both rice production and the shipment of the food staple.
Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the average retail price of a kilo of regular-milled rice in the country is P42.26, while the average retail price of well-milled rice is P45.71 per kilo.
For his part, Nograles said “even accounting for less than optimal weather conditions, the discrepancy of the prices in the Zamboanga peninsula is huge. Prices like these put a huge strain on the limited budgets of families who just want to have three square meals a day. The NFA should check if something illegal is going on.”
“Some 120,000 bags, or 6,000 metric tons, of rice were allocated by the NFA for Region 9. This will help stabilize the soaring prices of local commercial rice since the consumers would have more choices of rice to choose from,” Nograles said.
“What’s worse, the information relayed to me is that unscrupulous traders are hoarding more rice, thereby driving up prices further. They’re manipulating the market in their favor, but this is making probinsyano suffer. The NFA must find out if this practice occurs in Zamboanga City alone or in the entire Zamboanga peninsula,” he added.
The lawmakers have also asked the NFA and Department of Agriculture to update Congress regarding their inspections in various rice warehouses in the region.