Marcos urges public to report traders selling rice above price ceiling By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, GMA Integrated News

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Friday called on the public to report to authorities vendors and retailers not observing the mandated price ceiling on rice. "I would encourage anyone who finds that someone or retailer is selling at above the price ceiling, i-report po ninyo. I-report po ninyo sa pulis, i-report po ninyo sa DA (Department of Agriculture) doon sa lugar ninyo, i-report ninyo sa local government para matingnan po namin," Marcos said in an interview in Palawan. (Report them. Report them to cops, to the DA in your areas, report them to the local government so we could check.) The President has approved the imposition of price ceiling on rice across the country amid the skyrocketing prices in local markets. The mandated price ceiling for regular milled rice is P41 per kilo while the mandated price cap for well-milled rice is P45 per kilo, according to Executive Order No. 39. Marcos said the main problem when it comes to the surge of rice prices could be observed in Metro Manila and not in other provinces. "The real problem is in NCR. it's not so bad outside Manila, Metro Manila... that's why maybe we will be focusing our efforts in Metro Manila," he said. The chief executive tasked the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure the strict implementation of the price ceilings, including monitoring and investigation of abnormal price movements. The Department of the Interior and Local Government, including the Philippine National Police, is also mandated to assist the DA and the DTI in the enforcement of the price ceilings. The setting of price ceilings on rice, however, did not sit well with a number of advocacy groups who said it could result in lower farmgate prices to the detriment of farmers. AMIHAN National Federation of Peasant Women secretary general and Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo and IBON Foundation research head Rosario Guzman said this could possibly result in the buying of palay at an unreasonable cheap price. Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives national manager Raul Montemayor said that the price ceilings “look unrealistically low.” The Kilusang Mangbubukid ng Pilipinas, meanwhile, called on the government to go after rice cartels, who manipulate the supply and price of rice in the local market.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

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