Marcos keen on addressing food security, rising rice prices

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. is keen to resolve the issue of increasing prices of food commodities, including rice.

Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro stressed this in a radio interview on Friday, noting that Marcos is seeking the most effective solutions to address the challenges of food security.

“Sa food security, tinututukan iyan ng Pangulo. At inaalam din kung saan ba dapat ang magandang paraan para ito ay ma-lessen kung may problema man diyan. ‘Yun naman ang laging ginagawa ng Pangulo (In food security, the President is focusing on that. And he is also figuring out the best way to alleviate it, if there is a problem there. That is what the President always does),” she said.

Castro added the “President will closely focus on identifying the problem behind why the price of rice hasn't decreased significantly yet.”

Meanwhile, Castro cautioned that severe sanctions will be imposed on economic saboteurs, particularly smugglers and hoarders, who are manipulating the prices of agricultural products.

“Behind our backs, there are those committing such crimes. This won't slip by the President's attention, so we will go after them one by one,” she said.

Marcos earlier called for a "unified" strategy to stabilize food prices, along with the introduction of new policies to protect consumers from market fluctuations.

On 4 February, the Department of Agriculture declared a food security emergency for rice to address the “extraordinary” price increases in the retail price.

On 15 February, the DA also lowered its maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for 5-percent broken rice in Metro Manila to P52 per kilogram from P55 to help further control retail prices.

Starting 1 March, the MSRP for 5-percent broken imported rice will be reduced to P49 per kilogram.