Nanawagan si House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda sa trade at agriculture departments na bantayan ang presyo ng tinapay at mga gulay, partikular na ang sibuyas.
Ang kanyang pahayag ay sa kabila ng paglabas ng inflation figures ang Philippine Statistics Authority na nagpapakita na ang rate noong Hunyo ay nasa 6.1%, bumaba mula sa 6.6% noong Abril.
“That said, on a month-on-month basis, price levels have remained unchanged on the aggregate. Hence, for ordinary households, the slowdown in price levels is rather theoretical. Expect continued consumers to continue curtailing spending. Core inflation is also still at an elevated 7.7 percent, indicating that food-poor families remain vulnerable to high prices. We need to sustain efforts to improve food supply, lower logistics costs, and keep the prices of basic services under control,” paliwanag ni Salceda.
Partikular niyang binanggit ang asukal, na ang inflation rate ay nasa 31.6%, kabilang sa basket of goods na nangangailangan ng atensyon ng gobyerno.
“The most glaring target for me remains to be sugar, which sticks out at an inflation rate of 31.6 percent. We cannot have a thriving food manufacturing sector when our sugar prices are at this level. The solution is structural, but could be politically difficult. It’s obvious – import. But we need to find a sweet spot, probably just for industrial users,” dagdag ng mambabatas.
Binanggit pa niya na tila may mali sa presyo ng tinapay at maaaring tumaas muli ang presyo ng sibuyas kung hindi palalakasin ang suplay nito sa mga susunod na buwan.
“Bread prices are also much higher than expected. Something is off, there, since world prices of wheat have collapsed by 40.74 percent year-on-year. I will be lodging an official query with the Bureau of Customs on the price levels of imports of wheat between May 2022 and May 2023. I also urge the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] to take a closer look,” dagdag ni Salceda.
“Wheat prices are in fact lower than where they were prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So, something really doesn’t make sense there.”
Iginiit din niya na maaaring kailanganin ng gobyerno na palakasin ang imbentaryo nito ng sibuyas dahil maaaring maubos ang mga stock pagkatapos ng harvest season ng Enero-Pebrero.
“Higher vegetable prices appears seasonal, and I urge the DA to once again watch out for onion prices, since the stock from the most recent harvest will begin to run out next month. We already know what will happen. Three months, and the harvest stocks are nearly out. Obviously, we need to import and they need to arrive during lean season,” dagdag ng mambabatas.
Photo credit: House of Representatives Official Website