Get act together to stop rice price hike, Cabinet urged

Cabinet members should get their act together and agree on a common policy to arrest rising rice prices, a lawmaker-economist said yesterday.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s economic adviser, said he was addressing his appeal to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Cabinet Secretary and National Food Authority (NFA) council head Leoncio Evasco Jr. and NFA administrator Jason Aquino, as well as to President Duterte’s economic managers.

“It is the duty of the state to feed its people and it is the strategy

of this country to keep food cheap by lowering the cost of production. We have failed in most,” Salceda said.

In an interview on “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News, he urged Aquino to resign for his “dismissive” handling of the rice supply-importation issue.

He said food prices jumped by 8.5 percent in August, though inflation averaged 6.4 percent, the highest in nearly 10 years.

He said food inflation hurts the poor most, since 60 percent of their household budget goes to food, while for the rich, consumer goods account for only 24 percent of their expenses.

He said the concerned officials should “make up and talk to each other.”

Another economist in the House of Representatives, Michael Romero of 1-Pacman, said rising inflation has made more than two million Filipinos poorer.

“This problem has to be taken in all its seriousness as the escalation in food prices is already exorbitant. The question is where is the ceiling when it comes to inflation? Are we moving towards hyperinflation?” he asked.

He said the government must “do drastic measures now to counter inflation or we might risk being compared to Venezuela (which has runaway inflation).”

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez and his senior deputy Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay urged the President’s economic managers and those who have to do with rice supply to resign or for Duterte to replace them.

Suarez said rice supply “is principally a production issue, for which Secretary Piñol is responsible.

“His job is to ensure that we have sufficient supply of rice and other agricultural products. He cannot blame other people for his failure to do his job,” he said.

Atienza said Piñol, Evasco and Aquino have been quarreling over rice supply and importation since early last year.

He recalled that the President even dismissed an undersecretary of Evasco on suspicion of corruption on rice importation.

He said the rice crisis has been prevailing “for more than a year now, and yet they failed to ease the situation and could not even offer solutions.”

In the wake of the 6.4-percent inflation in August, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the price hike is due in part to the failure of the NFA to bring in more imported rice.

The NFA council chaired by Evasco has belatedly allowed the agency to import an additional 250,000 metric tons.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles is urging the NFA to make cheap rice available in the provinces.

“The NFA should ensure that its rice stocks are sold where they are needed – in non rice-producing provinces and those far from the capital so that people in the countryside will have access to affordable rice,” he said.

In Marilao, Bulacan, Bureau of Customs (BOC) operatives – in coordination with the NFA – padlocked on Friday a warehouse stocked with imported rice due to questions on import documents.

Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna, acting Bulacan police director, said the Talisay Farmers Cooperative-leased warehouse inside the Federal Corp. compound in Barangay Ibayo was padlocked by BOC operatives led by Alvin Enciso for “some violation.”