President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, Oct. 4 announced the lifting of the imposed price ceiling on regular and well-milled rice in the local markets nationwide.
"I think it is an appropriate time... Yes, as of today, we are lifting the price caps on the rice, both for the regular and well-milled rice. Tinatanggal na natin yung control," he told reporters in a chance interview in Taguig City where he led the distribution of smuggled rice.
But Marcos said there is a lot of mending to do in the agriculture sector.
He assured that farmers and their underprivileged families would be receiving continued cash assistance from the national government.
"Kailangan pa rin natin tulungan ang pinakagutom para kahit papaano, makaahon sila," Marcos added.
In September, the President issued an executive order (EO) No. 39 mandating local markets throughout the country to sell regular milled rice at ₱41 per kilogram and well-milled rice at ₱45 per kilogram due to the surged in rice prices.
On Tuesday, Department of Agriculture (DA) Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Director Gerald Glenn Panganiban announced that DA and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have recommended to Marcos the lifting of the rice price ceiling.
He said the rice price cap lifting was recommended as indicators point that prices of rice in the local markets and export prices of rice in the global markets have been decreasing since the rice price cap was enforced.
