MABALACAT CITY -- The National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan) and the rice watch group Bantay Bigas hit the National Food Authority (NFA) for the proposed rice price increase, saying the move is anti-poor and a threat to the country’s food security.
Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo disclosed the increasing NFA price from the current P27 and P32 to P33 to P35.
Consumers are not exactly complaining with the current P38 per kilo price of commercial rice and the increase of NFA rice prices shows how insensitive and ignorant the government is on the plight of the poor and the marginalized, said Estavillo.
Many Filipinos, especially those who are earning below the minimum wage, barely afford a kilo of rice as result of the record-high inflation rate, she added.
“Poor Filipinos depend on NFA rice and they patiently fall in line for hours just to buy affordable rice. If the NFA increases its price on rice, the government is also prohibiting them to eat rice every day. This will aggravate the problem of hunger in the country,” Estavillo said.
Estavillo said the shortage of NFA rice in the market these past few weeks might be a method in conditioning the consumers to buy more expensive commercial rice in preparation for higher priced NFA rice.
The peasant women group Amihan claimed the proposal is a step toward NFA privatization.
Amihan Chair Zenaida Soriano said the approved version of the Rice Tariffication Bill has limited the functions of the NFA to buffer stocking.
Increasing NFA rice price will make the agency profitable and more attractive to the private sector making the Filipino consumers and farmers at the losing end, she said.
"An increase in the price of NFA rice will also favor the importers as it will lessen the price gap between NFA and commercial rice," Soriano said.
“We are demanding for NFA reorientation and strengthening of its functions to genuinely serve the interests of Filipino farmers and consumers,” she added.
The groups said the full implementation of liberalization in the rice industry will eventually kill the local rice industry and worsen the state of the country's food security.