PRICE CHECK. Members of the Soccsksargen Regional EO 39 Task Force laud vendors for complying with the rice price ceiling on Tuesday (Sept. 5, 2023) in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato. Rice traders in Cotabato City assure they will follow the existing rice price ceiling. (Photos courtesy of DTI-North Cotabato)
COTABATO CITY – Rice traders in the Soccsksargen (Region 12) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said they fully support Executive Order (EO) No. 39, which sets a price ceiling on regular and well-milled rice in the country.
In this city, several rice traders at the city’s Mega Market on Wednesday said they understood the government's overarching goal in setting the price limit.
In an interview, Bai Sandra Upam, a rice stall owner, said EO 39 would be beneficial as a short-term measure to "prevent skyrocketing prices of our staple food."
Even retailers like her, she said, hope the rice prices will go down soon.
Upam urged the government to penalize those who ignore EO 39 which is aimed at preventing the hoarding of rice supplies.
“Unscrupulous traders may resort to hoarding so that prices will go up further,” she said.
Implemented on Tuesday nationwide, EO 39, mandated the price of regular milled rice at PHP41 per kilogram while well-milled rice at PHP45 per kilogram.
“We are all for it. The stabilizing or rice prices would be fair to everybody,” Tahir Sandik, another rice vendor, said in the vernacular.
As of Tuesday, he said they have started complying with the order after being notified by the city market administrator’s office amid their prevailing prices of well-milled rice at PHP54 and PHP51 for regular-milled rice per kilo.
“Penalties of up to PHP1 million await violators according to news reports. It’s a wake-up call for violators,” Sandik said.
Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao has created the “Local Price Watch Team” to monitor the compliance of rice traders.
The city forms part of the BARMM where its provisional seat of regional government is located.
Enough supply in BARMM
Meanwhile, the BARMM’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) assured Wednesday that there is sufficient supply of rice in the region.
Dr. Daud Lagasi, MAFAR’s director-general for agriculture services, said the “region’s rice supply is expected to last until the end of 2023. We are anticipating the harvest period before December, so we expect the rice prices to go down before that time."
Lagasi also said MAFAR, in partnership with other agencies in BARMM, has deployed monitoring teams in various rice stores in the region to monitor compliance with EO 39.
Soccsksargen rice prices
Rice prices in the Soccsksargen have also been monitored to have plummeted Wednesday.
In Kidapawan City, North Cotabato, the Soccsksargen Regional E.O 39 Task Force led by the Department of Agriculture-12 launched a simultaneous price monitoring of rice Tuesday at the Kidapawan Mega Market and found vendors complying with the directive.
“We will always abide by the law because it is for the good of all of us,” Tomas Mesina, a rice retail cooperative head, said.
He noted identical rice prices prevailing in the market.
“EO 39 here is being fully implemented,” he said. (PNA)
