00:00The rise in porters and traders is the reason why some congressmen are still unable to lower the price of rice in the market.
00:10This is what Mela Las Moras reported.
00:12I will bet that my salary, bonus and house, you cannot buy a lentil for less than P50. It's rare Mr. Chair.
00:24We are being fooled by these people. I'm sorry for my language, but we are being fooled somewhere else.
00:31The customs said P33, the wholesaler said P35 to P40. Why is it P50 in the market?
00:40Congressmen are still unable to lower the price of rice in the market even though the government is lowering the price of imported rice.
00:50In the continuation of the House Kinta Committee or Murang Pagkain Supercommittee, one of the main reasons of congressmen is the rise in porters and traders.
01:01It is very clear that there is a rise because we saw the self-sufficiency ratio, the demand over supply, less than 1.
01:15It means that there is excess supply. If there is excess supply, it means that the price should go down.
01:22Based on what was heard, the two top-priced importers in the country, only one owned the rice.
01:27That's why House Deputy Speaker David J. J. Suarez asked the Bureau of Plant Industry why this was allowed.
01:34Why didn't you check?
01:36Sir, we are reviewing it now.
01:38You cannot review it now.
01:40It's already done. Now you will do your job. When they were still applying, you should have checked it already.
01:47Who knows, maybe later, those top five, only three will happen.
01:52Some rice importers faced criticism and they were alarmed as if they were forced to participate in the situation.
01:59The blame now is that we became the spotlight of the importers, where in fact Hon. Tupo is right.
02:08What we will see is the problem with the retailers. We don't have a cartel. We don't do profiteering.
02:16We're dictated by the market prices. We don't do hoarding.
02:22Congressmen are now pushing to lower the price of rice as soon as possible.
02:27The Department of Agriculture is now hoping for a lower price in January.
02:33Initially, we said it's October.
02:35And then now that we're looking at the stocks and now we're looking that it might come down by January next year.
02:46Mela Lesmoras for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
