Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the city government expects that more supplies of rice, sourced at a lower price, are seen to arrive soon.
“Local supply is gradually coming in, which is driving the price down. These are local supplies that will soon arrive,” Benitez said in a press briefing on Monday, September 11.
He said the city government will source rice supplies from neighboring Negros Occidental’s Murcia town and Bago City, and Iloilo province.
The mayor said the supplies will help rice retailers comply with the mandated price ceiling under Executive Order (EO) 39, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
The price cap, which took effect on September 5, was set at P41 per kilo for regular-milled rice and at P45 per kilo for well-milled rice.
Benitez said rice retailers in public markets across the city complied with the price ceiling.
The city government has already contacted suppliers selling affordable rice.
“The city facilitated looking for suppliers. [The retailers] paid the suppliers directly. We requested the vendors not to mark up too much,” he said.
They are also finding rice stocks to be sold within the price ceiling of P41 per kilo.
“It was an initiative of the city to coordinate with rice dealers to make sure we can give [the public] at the price ceiling stipulated in the EO,” he said.
“We will try to look for as much cheap but quality rice,” he added.
Meanwhile, City Administrator Pacifico Maghari III said rice available at P45 per kilo was almost sold out last week, based on their monitoring.
“We have received reports that there are some retailers selling rice at a lower price. Since the stocks were almost sold out, there are re-orders,” Maghari said.
The EO 39 is considered as the strongest weapon of the administration to protect consumers against illegal price manipulators, hoarders and rice cartels.
The directive will also ensure fair competition in markets and uphold consumer welfare and protection.
Marcos has also ordered the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture to ensure the implementation of mandated price ceilings, and to monitor and investigate abnormal price movements in the market./ With reports from PNA / WDJ