Arroyo, hoarders blamed for soaring rice prices
MANILA, Philippines—Hungry and frustrated, a man who lined up to buy government-subsidized rice at a "Bigasan ng Bayan" outlet in Bansalan town, Davao del Sur province, threw a stone at a streamer bearing the image of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The unidentified man was among those who queued early Monday morning, most of them without breakfast, only to be told that the store would open at 2 p.m.
Some of the consumers tried to bring down the tarpaulin, which was displayed outside the store, before they trooped to the office of Mayor Edwin Reyes.
More and more people in Mindanao are opting to buy government-subsidized rice, which is sold at P18.50 a kilo, as the price of "polished" rice soars to levels beyond their reach – from P41 to P52.
The President has ordered an investigation into the soaring rice prices, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Monday.
Earlier, Ms Arroyo's deputy spokesperson, Lorelei Fajardo, said the National Food Authority (NFA) would look into the alleged hoarding of the staple in Mindanao.
A Catholic bishop blamed not only traders, who hoard and resell cheap rice, but also government officials, who fail to stop the illegal practice, for the runaway prices of the grain.
Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel, South Cotabato, said he had been receiving reports that some traders in Mindanao were re-bagging the cheap NFA rice and reselling it at a much higher price.
"We are producing rice, but why is it so expensive? Something is wrong. The reason is the greed of businessmen and the incompetence of some government people," Gutierrez said in a Radio Veritas interview.
He called hoarding and reselling rice at a higher price "satanic."
The prelate said he would urge the traders to return what they had "stolen" from the poor. If a trader accepts the condition, "then I will absolve him. I will give him communion," he said.
Traders point to millers
Gutierrez said the rice traders should open their warehouses not only to government inspectors, but also to bishops. The prelate said the bishops and priests could help in the distribution of rice.
Rice traders in Bansalan won't take the blame for the price increase. Instead, they point to rice millers, who allegedly refuse to process palay (unhusked rice) as they wait for prices to further increase.
This is also what is happening in Northern Mindanao.
A week before rice prices shot up to P50 a kilo in Mindanao, one of the biggest millers in Cagayan de Oro City, Bernal Milling, cut its output by half, pointing to lack of supply.
Virginia Cantones, an official of the United Market Vendors Association in Cogon Market and a small rice retailer, said she had been going around the city to look for other rice millers to complete her quota, but found many warehouses empty.
"One miller told me they were not processing palay, stocked in bags in their warehouse by the thousands, because their equipment broke down. That's just unbelievable," Cantones said in the vernacular.
Cantones said many millers were keeping their stocks as they await rice prices to further go up. Some farmers have also decided to keep their palay stocks.
"But who can blame the farmers? The price of fertilizer has gone up three times in less than a month. They will not be able to gain enough if they sell the palay now," she said.
The Grain Retailers Confederation-Cagayan de Oro, said a big chunk of the rice supply from Cotabato and Bukidnon was brought to Davao, where the selling price was higher than that in other parts of Mindanao.
In Davao, premium rice is bought from traders at P2,000 a sack while the selling price in Northern Mindanao ranges from P1,700 to P1,800 a sack.
As a result, many traders are forced to buy rice from suppliers based on the Davao selling price.
But it's a different case in Cotabato City, where a dealer (who asked not to be named) claimed that dealers in the nearby provinces of Shariff Kabunsuan and North Cotabato were buying rice at a higher price.
P50 per sack
"The dealers wait for the truck of the supplier from Lebak on the highway in North Cotabato. They would add P50 per sack to our original buying price so the supplier would cancel our deliveries," the dealer said.
It takes five to six hours to transport rice stocks by land from Lebak town in Sultan Kudarat province to Cotabato City.
"We compete with other dealers from other provinces who go directly to rice suppliers to ensure supply," the rice trader said.
"We used to just sit in our store and wait for the deliveries ... (but now) for us to have supplies we have to go there because others (traders) are going there," the dealer said.
He said this was one reason the price was continuing to rise.
At the Cotabato City Megamarket, the "darami" (rice that was spilled on the floor during transport) used to cost P10 a kilo. It now costs P25.
"Darami" is sold as swine feed before the price of rice started to go up. It is now out of stock.
"It has never been like this before. The government should act and should act quickly," Rizelma Anastacio, a mother of three, said.
In Agusan del Sur province, rice traders blamed their counterparts in Digos City for buying most of their rice stocks two weeks ago and reselling them at a much higher price late last week when their stocks started to run out.
Buy low, sell high
A rice trader in Tandag City in Surigao del Sur province also blamed the Davao and Cotabato-based traders for buying palay at up to P25 a kilo from farmers in neighboring San Miguel town, taking the last batch of the harvest last week.
Concepcion Atamosa, president of a rice traders' group at the Public Shopping Mall in San Francisco town in Agusan del Sur, said several rice traders from Digos bought their stocks at P1,600 a sack and resold them at P2,000 to P2,200 when their stocks were running low.
Atamosa acknowledged that the Digos traders bought 72 sacks of her stocks two weeks ago.
She said her group learned that it had been had when the Davao and Cotabato traders started to sell the group rice last week at P2,000 to P2,200 a sack after their local supply started to run out.
Amid the soaring prices, the NFA is still limiting the amount of its subsidized rice that consumers can buy in public markets, drawing mounting complaints from consumers who now opt to buy the imported rice.
Not enough
Roberta Resaba of Barangay Alegria in San Francisco, said 2 kilos of rice were not enough to feed her four grownup children.
Resaba said her family started to patronize NFA rice when it was offered at P18.50 a few months back. Like her, other consumers who joined a long queue at an NFA outlet Monday pleaded for an increase of the ration from 2 kilos to 5 a day.
Last week, the agency received 120,000 bags of Vietnam rice, which its Caraga director, Gil Pepito Paqueo, said was enough to ensure "no food shortage in the region."
In nearby Butuan City, Fernando Nuñez, NFA manager in Butuan and Agusan del Norte, said the high prices were due to increased demand because of the coming lean season.
Nuñez said the buying spree by rice traders from outside Caraga had dried up the supply of local rice millers and grain wholesalers supposedly intended for the city.
Spike in prices
A small rice retailer at the Langihan market in Butuan blamed the rice millers and grain wholesalers for the spike in prices.
"The greedy rice millers and wholesalers are responsible for the increases. By controlling the supply, they manipulate the prices," he said.
Nuñez said he had already ordered an increase in the volume of rice the NFA was distributing daily from 900 bags to 1,200 to its 143 accredited outlets.
"We are mitigating the impact of the price hike by increasing the availability of NFA rice in the markets," he said.
At a meeting with Reyes Monday afternoon, Arthur Diaz, a project development officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, said his office was planning to add 24 outlets to the 93 "Tindahan Natin" stores in Davao del Sur. Orlando Dinoy, Edwin O. Fernandez, Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez, Chris V. Panganiban, Franklin A. Caliguid, Inquirer Mindanao; and Kristine L. Alave and Michael Lim Ubac in Manila
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