Thursday, March 27, 2008 Residents whine over spiraling rice prices By Annabelle L. Ricalde
THE prices of rice are going up and not even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's assurance of a steady and stable supply of rice could stop the prices of the commodity from increasing.
Leslie Legaspi, a housewife with four children of Barangay 26, Cagayan de Oro City, was taken aback when she went to Cogon public market last Tuesday to buy rice.
The prices of premium grade rice have gone up and are now being sold from P28 to P32 a kilo. A week ago, Legaspi bought the same premium grade rice at P26 a kilo.
"Wala ko mag expect nga ani kapaspas pagsaka sa presyo sa bugas (I did not expect that the prices will go up drastically," said Legaspi who has to balance her budget food from her husband's salary -- a salesman.
Legaspi said prices of rice before increased every now and then, but these days, the increases are made almost daily.
"I fear that this will not stop. The prices might become too prohibitive even for us," she said.
Legaspi said she pities the poor who barely has the money to buy food for the table. "Ako man gani nga medyo stable ang suweldo sa akong bana, ga problema. Unsa na kaha ning wala gyud (If I, who has a husband with a steady income, complained, how much for the others who have nothing)," she said.
President Arroyo, already battling a corruption scandal, has assured there will be a stable supply.
Rice is more than just food to the Philippines. It is consume breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sometimes by itself.
That is the reason why Legaspi prefers to buy premium grade. She said her family could eat them with dried fish -- if their food budget runs out.
Some housewives here resort to cooking less rice to fit their budget.
A certain Cheklet, a housewife, said she is lessening the rice she served for her family of seven to fit their budget of 15 kilos a week.
"Budgeted na gyud na nga kadaghanon sa among mahurot pero unsaon man nga mangaon man gyud (Our rice consumption has to be lessened but what can I do, we have to eat)," she said.
Local grain retailers warned there would be increases on the prices of the grains in the coming days.
Vivian Tagaro, a rice retailer, said prices go up by as much as one peso a day.
"Ang P27 nga kilo sa rice kagahapon karon P28 (Rice that sells at P27 yesterday is now P28)," Tagaro said.
Tagaro said consumers are already alarmed and are complaining. Some consumers especially the poor, she said, would beg for discounts.
"Pero wala gyud mi mahimo kay unsaon naman pud ang among capital (We can not do anything. We have capital money to recover too)?" she said.
Tagaro said she took pity of the poor who cannot afford to buy the fancier rice varieties. She said the poor would have to make do with grains from the National Food Authority (NFA), which sells at P18.25 a kilo.
But these NFA stocks are limited.
NFA authorized outlets limit the rice sold to an individual at five kilos a day. In some NFA outlets in Cogon and Carmen public markets, retailers told consumers that they are out of NFA stocks.
Corruption also plagued the NFA.
Last February, the NFA Misamis Oriental manager was charged for diverting sacks of cheap rice to unscrupulous traders who re-bagged and sold them at commercial prices.
Luis Ocampo, of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) regional office, said prices were monitored at P26 to P27 for ordinary rice variety; special rice at P28 to P29 per kilo; premium grade, P30 to P32 per kilo, and for fancy rice, P32 to P35 per kilo.
Senator Francis Escudero, in a statement, said government spending for rice imports to avert looming shortage could hit P58.7 billion and P21.7 billion of which would go for subsidy.
Escudero said that if imported rice costs P29.40 a kilo and NFA retailers would sell it at P18.50, then the P10.90-per-kilo difference would be the "political premium" the Arroyo administration would have to pay to prevent the perceived lack of rice.
The Philippines consumes a total of 11.9 million metric tons of rice annually, most of which are grown domestically.
