LAST August 31, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order (EO) 39 that imposed price ceilings for regular milled rice at P41 per kilo and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice. This is lower than the Department of Agriculture's (DA) reported price for regular milled rice of between P42 and P55 per kilo, and P48 and P56 per kilo for well milled. Prevailing market prices, meanwhile, are even higher than the DA's reported prices.
The imposition of the price ceilings was triggered by the belief that while we have ample rice supply (as reported by the DA), unscrupulous traders are hoarding to artificially push prices upwards. As proof of this, joint raids by the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and other government agencies on major rice warehouses in Bulacan have been cited as finding ceiling-high stocks allegedly enough to meet consumer rice requirements for three months.
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