Daily Tribune‘The truth is, what we saw was the control of the price of rice, which was smuggled rice.’
Mother with toddler son buys P20 per kilo rice at the Department of Agriculture-Agribusiness Development Center’s Kadiwa ng Pangulo store in Quezon City. The ‘Benteng Bigas Meron Na’ program initially benefited the marginalized sector.
Photograph courtesy of PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has revealed that the high cost of grain was due to the continuous smuggling of rice undertaken by those inside the government.
“The truth is, what we saw was the control of the price of rice, which was smuggled rice. That’s why people are hoarding,” he said.
The government now provides subsidies to push rice prices lower at P20 per kilo, thus fulfilling its campaign promise.
He noted that the primary rice smugglers in the country are government officials.
“The ones who smuggle are government officials. They make money. Or why would they change it? Okay, they keep coming in. They don’t understand production. They don’t understand the system. They don’t understand the price of palay, the price of rice, or the farmer’s income. Nothing, nothing like that,” he said.
Marcos said this has been going on long before he assumed the presidency.
He added that when the government started cracking down on smuggled goods, the price of rice could adjust.
“The supply decreased when we clamped down on the smuggled goods and raided the warehouses. We need to fix the National Food Authority (NFA),” he said.
“All of that, those changes, it’s not that simple to do. Some laws need to be changed. Some people need to be changed. It’s a different concept. So, we just developed it all now,” he added.
Focusing on the local production of rice, Marcos admitted that in order for local rice to flourish and be sold nationwide, the government needed to invest in infrastructure and machinery that would yield good-quality rice.
“The key to that is production. That’s why we are constantly building irrigation. We have built so many dams. We have already distributed so much machinery,” he said.
He also emphasized that the Philippines produced its highest rice harvest in 2023 and exceeded the numbers in the following year.
Currently, P20 per kilo of rice is available at Kadiwa stores.
According to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., the government has dispensed 12,000 sacks of rice in 37 local government units in Cebu.
The agriculture department chief is expected to roam around Kadiwa stores to see in person the sale of affordable rice and to address other matters related to Kadiwa’s needs.
“Well, we can see that people are quite happy and it continues — the problem we are addressing right now is the length of the line… I will visit, go around myself to address it — add more chairs; put in an electric fan, if possible, with electricity; put in a tarpaulin or tent to keep the heat in. You know it’s hot right now, so we will address that to make the experience of our customers better,” he said in a briefing.
