The Department of Agriculture (DA) has formed a 48-person team that would monitor the implementation of the mandated price ceiling on rice in wet markets and supermarkets in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban issued Special Order (SO) 1125 series of 2023 which authorized the 48 personnel from the DA and the National Food Authority (NFA) to monitor the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 39.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who is also concurrently the country’s agriculture chief, issued EO 39 which imposed a price ceiling on regular-milled rice at P41 per kilogram and well-milled rice at P45 per kg.
“The following personnel from the DA operating units are hereby directed to conduct monitoring activities on the implementation of EO No. 39 including monitoring and investigation of abnormal price movement in all public and private markets, supermarkets, and grocery stores in the National Capital Region [NCR],” Panganiban said in the SO published recently.
Under the SO, 29 of the inspectors would come from the DA Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) while 8 are from the DA Field Operations Service (FOS). An additional 11 NFA personnel will join the team as deputized by the DA’s Memorandum Order 62 series of 2023.
The monitoring team would conduct its activity daily from Monday to Sunday. The team would be exempted from their regular official time of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and from using biometric bundy clocks, according to the DA.
“They are entitled to compensatory time offsetting for work rendered during the weekend,” the SO read.
SO 1125 stipulated that the monitoring team is entitled to a travelling allowance amounting to P350 per day per staff or P150 per day per staff if they will use government vehicles for their monitoring activities.
The budget would come from the funds of DA-AMAS or the Office of the Secretary, subject to budget availability and usual government accounting and auditing rules and regulations, according to the document.
The SO will only be revoked upon the lifting of EO 39, according to the DA.
The agriculture chief earlier said the implementation of the rice price ceiling is “going well.” (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/09/13/after-initial-supply-crunch-rice-price-cap-eo-going-well-pbbm/)
