Romualdez commends, urges sustained efforts for affordable rice

House Speaker Martin Romualdez commended the government's recent initiatives to make rice more affordable, while urging sustained efforts to maintain these gains.

Key government actions include the Department of Agriculture's (DA) declaration of a food security emergency, allowing the release of National Food Authority's (NFA) rice buffer stocks to stabilize retail prices.

The DA has set a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of P49 per kilogram for imported rice starting in March.

NFA rice is made available at P35 per kilogram for low-income households.

The DA confirmed that at least 150,000 metric tons of NFA rice, half of its total buffer stock, will be released over the next six months.

Romualdez acknowledged the government's positive steps but stressed that complacency is not an option.

These initiatives aim to counteract the significant increase in local rice prices, which persisted despite reductions in global market costs and import tariffs.