GenSan warns vs hoarding

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Mayor Ronnel Rivera warned commercial rice traders on Tuesday against the hoarding of supplies amid reports on the sudden increase in market prices in the past

several days.

Rivera said they will not hesitate to file charges against traders who will take advantage of the general community quarantine here and the neighboring areas due to the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) threat.

The mayor said he has directed the city’s price monitoring council to regularly check the prices and availability of rice supplies in the local markets.

Rivera said he received reports that the prices of commercial rice in the public markets have increased by up to PHP300 per sack and traders were charging an additional PHP5 for the sack.

“We are currently looking into this. The retail prices should not just increase (because of the community quarantine),” he told reporters.

Rivera said a series of inspections on rice outlets in public markets and other establishments as well as the warehouses of local traders will be conducted to determine the current inventory of rice supplies in the city.

Jasmin Lintag, National Food Authority-Sarangani-General Santos manager, said the commercial rice supplies in the area remain stable and that palay harvests coming from nearby localities are still pouring into the city.

She said their monitoring showed that the available supplies were still enough to sustain the area’s rice needs.

Lintag said the agency also has standby stocks that could be tapped to augment rice supplies in the markets.

“We’re ready in case of an extended quarantine period,” she said. (PNA)