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NewsTranscript
00:00We will now call on the Department of Agriculture Deputy Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary, Joycelle Panlilio. Good morning.
00:11Good morning, Mr. Ican.
00:14Yes.
00:15And to all of you, listeners and viewers, good morning.
00:19The Congressmen thought that there is a storm happening in the committee that's why we cannot lower the price of rice.
00:26What information does the DA have now?
00:30As of now, we are still investigating what our Congressmen are saying.
00:36This is also in accordance with the mandate of the Department under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
00:44The DA is a member of the Council of Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage.
00:50We are continuing to contact the enforcement group to see the so-called sabotage or cartel that controls the rice industry.
01:01Why is that? Because the importation of rice should result in lowering the price of rice in the market.
01:08But they are saying that the importation is more expensive, so the sale is also expensive. Is that right, Sec?
01:16Because of the so-called high price of rice, despite the lowering of the price of rice, the Department has a program to have a good competition in the market,
01:34to balance the so-called high price of rice.
01:37We have a rice for all program where the price of rice is only P40 per kilo.
01:46One more thing, it also depends on our consumers what rice they will buy.
01:53Our program is to give our consumers an option to choose cheap rice, P40.
02:05We also have the so-called P29 rice that is also available in Kadiwa ng Pangulo store.
02:12We have it in Metro Manila and some other places in the Laguna area.
02:19But if the price of rice won't go down, will the DA recommend that the tariff cut on imported rice should go back?
02:30As of now, we haven't seen a reduction in the price of imported rice.
02:36We think that if the price of imported rice won't go down, the price of rice might go up, considering that our foreign exchange is high.
02:45The dollar is higher compared to the past months.
02:49Okay. Let's go back to the NFA.
02:52If the regulatory powers of the National Food Authority are revoked, will we be able to solve the root of the problem that the price of rice is expensive?
03:05The revocation of the regulatory function or power of the NFA will help.
03:12As we can see, if there are traders who sell rice, their license can be revoked if they import rice or sell rice.
03:26So if they import rice, they will sell it at a cheap price. Is that allowed?
03:32Yes. We can do that if the seller is not direct and the NFA imports rice. We need to pass it through Kadiwa.
03:41Okay. If the past powers of the NFA cannot be revoked, what can we do about the problem of the price of rice?
03:50If you heard about the passing of the Rice Certification Law, the one that amended our previous law, the fund will be added to help farmers.
04:03What will happen is that our production will increase because we have a lot of supply and the price of rice will go down.
04:10Okay. Sek Panlilio, is the supply of rice enough for Christmas and New Year?
04:18The supply of rice is enough. I expect that there will be no problem in the supply of rice for Christmas.
04:27How about chicken and pork? Is it enough?
04:31Yes. For now, our supply is okay. I have no doubt that there will be a shortage of supplies for Christmas.
04:40How about the price? Should it go up while Christmas is coming?
04:45We will continue to monitor the price of rice. I'm sorry, our main products, like pork, so there won't be an extraordinary increase in the price.
04:56Thank you. For the happiness of the Filipinos.
05:02Be careful.
05:04Thank you. Merry Christmas and good morning to all of you.
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