MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday, January 17, that the tariff cuts on rice his government started implementing in June 2024 did not help bring down prices, forcing the government to consider the declaration of a food security emergency.
Marcos made the statement in a media interview in Leyte, when he was asked about the plan of the Department to Agriculture (DA) to make the declaration, based on the anticipated recommendation of the National Price Coordination Council (NPCC).
“The reason that we are doing this is ginawa na natin lahat upang ibaba ang presyo ng bigas ngunit (we have done everything to bring down the price of rice but) the market is not being allowed to work properly,” Marcos said.
The President was apparently referring to Executive Order 62 which he issued in June 2024, reducing the tariff on rice to 15% from 35%, in a bid to bring down rice prices.
The DA earlier said that the full impact of EO 62 was supposed to be felt by January 2025, while the country’s economic managers had estimated EO 62 to bring down rice prices by much as a P7 per kilo.
Marcos explained that despite such measure, rice prices remain high.
“Hindi nasusundan ang demand and supply curve dahil hanggang ngayon kahit ibaba mo lahat ng inputs, ang pagbenta pa rin mataas pa rin,” Marcos said.
(The demand and supply curve is not being followed until now so even if you bring down all the inputs, prices remain high.)
“And so, we have to force that price down and we have to make sure that the market works properly na walang friction cost na nangyayari dahil sa sari-sari – iba’t ibang bagay. At iyong iba doon ilegal kaya’t iyan ang iniimbestigahan ngayon ng Kongreso,” he added.
(And so, we have to force that price down and we have to make sure that the market works properly, that there is no friction arising from various factors. And some of those are illegal, so Congress is investigating that.)
Marcos said the NPCC is expected to transmit its formal recommendation on declaring a food security emergency to the DA next week.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said on Thursday, January 16, that the NPCC approved a resolution urging the DA to declare a food security emergency.
Farmers groups have said that such a declaration was an “admission” of the failure of EO 62 which they asked to be repealed. – Rappler.com