Several dealers in Bacolod City have been selling rice at a cheaper price in compliance with the mandated price ceiling, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said yesterday.

“We went around the markets [on Wednesday, September 6]. Right now, P45 per kilo of rice is already available in Burgos and Libertad markets,” Benitez said in a statement.

He said the city government is waiting for the release of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) from the Department of Trade and Industry on the price cap.

Meanwhile, City Administrator Pacifico Maghari said he had already sent request letters for the IRR to the DTI and the Department of Agriculture.

“We’re waiting for it before we conduct a coordination meeting to discuss specific procedures,” Maghari said.

“In the meantime, we have preliminary monitoring in public markets,” he added.

City Legal Office head Romeo Carlos Ting, Jr. said the city government has a basis to inspect and compel rice retailers to comply with Executive Order (EO) 39 that mandates a price ceiling of P41 per kilo of regular-milled rice and P45 per kilo of well-milled rice.

The local government unit has allocated 150 sacks of rice for 3,000 dealers at Burgos Public Market, Central Public Market and Libertad Public Market.

Ting said retailers would purchase well-milled rice from them, and then they sell it at P45 per kilo.

They also formed a team to strictly enforce the order.

Earlier, the supervisors of the three major public markets in the city conducted briefings for rice dealers on EO 39.

The directive, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on August 31 and took effect on Tuesday, September 5, is considered as the strongest weapon of the administration to protect consumers against illegal price manipulators, hoarders and rice cartels.

It will also intensify the fight against hoarding and illegal importation of rice, and impose measures against cartels to ensure fair competition in markets./With reports from PNA / WDJ