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NewsTranscript
00:00 Speaker Martin Romualdez and Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo visited several markets to inspect the price of rice and other products.
00:09 We have with us Congressman Erwin Tulfo. Cong, good morning.
00:14 Good morning sir Ivan.
00:17 Sir, the speaker said that you and your colleagues visited the market yesterday. It's possible that there is hoarding of rice.
00:23 Do you share the observation sir? What is the basis of this observation?
00:27 This speaker, sir Ivan, has information and assets. That's why the information is coming in.
00:37 He is sharing this information with the committee on agriculture headed by Congressman Enverga.
00:43 He is continuously looking at this. That's why he visited yesterday to know the real situation on the ground.
00:50 And you, what is your observation based on your visit yesterday?
00:54 The price of rice is high. It's not just rice. Our target is onions because it should be SRP.
01:04 Not SRP, but according to our computations in Congress, it should be around P120 per kilo in the market.
01:12 Okay. Based on your study, P120 per kilo of onions should be P120.
01:22 Unfortunately, but in the Commonwealth market, it's low. It's close to what we're saying.
01:31 In the Commonwealth market, there are sellers selling P125 per kilo of red onions.
01:38 In terms of rice, what is the actual price versus the actual price in the market and what is the discrepancy?
01:45 The Speaker saw something and he's happy because there are still 47, 48 in the Commonwealth market.
01:53 But the game now is 55, 56 per kilo.
01:59 What's surprising in the Commonwealth market is that we have a comparison between QMART and the Commonwealth.
02:06 The Commonwealth is low because we're seeing 47, 48 in QMART, and only 52, 55.
02:15 What's more surprising is that the local traders are saying that it's cheaper, only 40.
02:23 The imported is a bit expensive.
02:27 Some groups are pushing to implement price control and price ceiling because rice is too expensive.
02:34 Do you think this is a good time to implement this?
02:38 It depends sir Ivan. We need to study this because our farmers might get sick because they're buying from them.
02:48 It's too low. We need to study this.
02:51 That's why the Committee on Agriculture of the Congress is hearing this continuously so that both sides can hear,
02:58 the farmers, our consumers and our traders and importers, so that we can weigh this.
03:04 It might not be okay for the consumers, but for our farmers, we will be able to advise them on how to do this.
03:13 It's a win-win solution for everybody sir Ivan.
03:17 What are the alternatives we can see in the CONG?
03:21 The bottom line is that our consumers want a reasonable price, especially rice.
03:28 It's too expensive for our countrymen.
03:30 What can we do to stabilize the price of rice?
03:35 It's a world crisis actually sir Ivan.
03:40 Not only us, but some Southeast Asian countries have faced the export of rice.
03:48 Speaker Romualdez talked about this. He's from Vietnam.
03:52 Vietnam is helping next year in the Philippines to export rice.
03:57 I think we cannot afford to supply the entire country with rice, we need to import rice.
04:08 It's sad to accept this, but our agricultural lands are shrinking.
04:14 But the President said the only way to do this is to reduce the production cost of our farmers,
04:20 subsidize fertilizers, like what former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. did in 1999.
04:33 The President wants to adopt that.
04:35 We agreed with Speaker Romualdez that our farmers need subsidies.
04:43 One last point. You mentioned onions earlier.
04:45 Have you seen that the price is rising or the price is not right?
04:50 The price of onions is high.
04:53 The warning that the Speaker gave to the stockholders in their containers, in their warehouses, in their cold storage,
05:03 is to remove it. If not, if they continue to hide it,
05:07 the farmers and onion growers will lose their products, not to mention the traders.
05:13 What will happen is the President will tell the D.A. and BPI to give a lot of importation of onion permits
05:22 so that the price of onions will rise in the country.
05:25 If the price rises, the price will go down.
05:27 It's a pity for the traders who are hiding their onions.
05:33 But if it rises again, we will close it again so that our farmers can sell their products.
05:42 It's a fair warning to hoarders because hoarding is a crime.
05:47 Exactly sir. Even with rice, the instruction is the same.
05:52 What the Speaker said is if you are hoarding rice and you're hiding it, you should remove it.
05:57 If we cover this, you will be charged. So they need to remove it so that the price of rice will go down.
06:07 Thank you very much for the update.
06:09 Thank you for the update.
06:11 We will talk to House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo.
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