THE DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry (DTI) XI started monitoring and profiling rice retailers in the region following President Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No. 39 or the “Imposition of Mandated Price Ceilings on Rice,” which became effective on Sept. 5.
During the AFP-PNP press forum at the Royal Mandaya Hotel on Sept. 6, Deolly Roque, DTI-XI Consumer Protection chief, said they already monitored three warehouses in Davao City so far.
“Among the three warehouses that were monitored, wala namang nakitaang nag-hoarding, only that ang buying price nila is really mataas, and reasons given by the warehouses’ suppliers and importers is lean season since July walang harvest ang ating mga farmers,” Roque said.
Roque said one of the factors why the price continues to increase is the importation cap from other countries, particularly Vietnam which ships 90% of the country’s rice supply.
With the short notice of rice’s price cap, Roque mentioned they plan to extend financial assistance to the affected retailers.
EO 39 implements a price cap of P41 per kilo for regular milled rice and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice. The order is “mandated throughout the country and remains in full force unless earlier lifted by the President upon the recommendation of DTI and DA”.
The DTI XI seeks to prioritize public markets to further determine retailers’ losses by comparing their usual buying price and the new selling price.
After seven days of profiling all over the region, Roque said the enforcement agencies will begin their operations according to their procedural guidelines.
