The President’s contingent fund of P13-B in 2023 can be the source of the requisite assistance to rice retailers as subsidy to them in order to foreclose their expected losses in selling their inventories, which they procured at levels higher than the price cap imposed under Executive Order No. 39.
Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman lauded the overwhelming support of the House of Representatives in its passage on third reading of HB No. 8910 or the “Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act”.
Rice retailers must submit sworn statements to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on their current rice inventories and their purchase costs to enable the government to address their concerns that they would lose if they would sell their stocks at the price ceiling.
I essentially agree with the President’s imposition of a price ceiling for regular milled rice at P41/kilo and well-milled rice at P45/kilo, but clarification should be made on the price cap of imported rice, unless it would fall under the subject rice varieties.
The shift to federalism shall remain a gratuitous soundbite so long as most local government units (LGUs) are destitute of fiscal autonomy.
