Cabaero: Where’s show of strength vs. rice crisis?
The ceilings on rice prices are meant to address rising costs and supply shortages, but government action so far has been focused on disseminating the price control order and letting go of a critical official.
Eight days have passed since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced the rice price caps. While there were primarily reports of administrative efforts at implementation, there has been little monitoring or raids of warehouses of rice hoarders and going after masterminds and cartels, especially outside Luzon. The price ceilings are temporary, and to make the decision worth it requires a show of strength against the root causes.
Marcos had said that setting the maximum price for regular milled rice at P41 per kilo and well-milled rice at P45 per kilo was necessary to stop illegal price manipulation. He blamed “hoarding by opportunistic traders and collusion among industry cartels in light of the lean season.”
What had been reported since he issued the order were the dissemination of the price ceilings as enforcement can be administratively challenging and the grant of financial assistance of not more than P15,000 and even interest-free loans to affected retailers.
Also last week, the government terminated the services of Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno for maligning the Marcos administration. Magno had questioned the rice price ceilings.
The caps are meant to ensure that rice becomes affordable and that food security can be attained through a steady supply of the staple. For a longer-lasting impact, the fixes have to go beyond the price manipulation and into the root causes such as hoarding and the control by industry cartels, and the need to support our rice farmers through financing, equipment and infrastructure.
You can’t have the price ceiling run for months as this can go against the interest of consumers who would have to deal with the supply shortages. Magno and others critical of the rice price ceilings said the same -- that the government-imposed caps would discourage producers from growing rice.
Within the period of the price ceilings, there should be a heightened investigation of suspected hoarders and cartel personalities and raids on bodegas not only in Luzon but around the country. Such action would raise confidence in the government’s efforts.
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Viva la Virgen! The Our Lady of Peñafrancia image of our family is at the Sto. Niño Chapel of the Ayala Center Cebu (fourth floor) for the weekend masses on Sept. 9, 10, 16 and 17. Saturday masses are at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday masses at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
A special mass was held last Friday, Sept. 8, for Mama Mary’s birthday.
The daily Peñafrancia novena masses from Sept. 8-16 are at the Capitol parish church: weekday masses (Monday-Friday), at 6:15 p.m., and weekend masses (Saturday and Sunday), at 5:30 p.m. Fiesta mass will be at Capitol on Sept. 17, 5:30 p.m. Sponsor is the Bicol Association of Cebu.