By Mae Singuay

A total of 1,241 rice retailers in Negros Occidental and capital Bacolod City, who were affected by the government-imposed price ceiling on rice, will each avail of P15,000 financial aid, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-NegOcc said yesterday.

DTI-NegOcc director Lynna Joy Cardinal, in a press conference with Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said the financial assistance for rice retailers will be released on Wednesday, September 13.

She said the cash assistance would be provided to qualified rice dealers in the province and Bacolod, compliant with the Executive Order (EO) 39, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

The EO, which mandated a price ceiling on regular and well-milled rice across the country, took effect on September 5.

The order imposed a price cap of P41 per kilo of regular-milled rice and P45 per kilo of well-milled rice.

Cardinal met with the Department of Social Welfare and Development yesterday afternoon, with regards to the distribution of the cash aid.

She said the government will provide assistance for rice retailers due to the losses incurred in their business.

Cardinal added that they already have received complaints on the implementation of the price ceiling, but they endorsed these to the Department of Agriculture.

Per DTI’s monitoring last week, some retailers sold well-milled and regular-milled rice more than the prescribed price ceiling.

Their monitoring for this week also revealed they have noticed all of the rice retailers were now compliant./MS, WDJ