MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday said the economic managers of President Rodrigo Duterte have agreed on several measures designed to combat inflation.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte’s economic managers agreed in a meeting last August 16 that reducing tariff would not really reduce the prices of goods, particularly food.
“So ang ginawa po nilang mga pamamaraan para po mapababa ang presyo, unang-una nga po iyong pag-approve ng pag-i-import ng galunggong (round scad) ‘no. So iyan po ay ongoing as we speak (So what they did to bring down prices is to approve the importation of galunggong. So that is ongoing as we speak), Roque said.
The DA will reportedly import 17,000 metric tons of round scad, which hopefully, will reduce the cost to at least PHP75 per kilo and to help stabilize fish prices.
Roque said the government will not allow importation of formalin-tainted “galunggong”.
“We will only allow importation of galunggong provided it is not preserved with the use of formalin,” he said.
The economic managers’ meeting was attended by Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez; DA Secretary Manny Piñol; and representatives from Departments of Finance, Budget and Management, Foreign Affairs, Labor and Employment, Agrarian Reform, Transportation; and Office of the Executive Secretary, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Tariff Commission, Board of Investments and National Economic Development Authority.
Aside from importing round scad, Roque said the economic officials also agreed to suspend the special safeguard measures on onions and chicken.
Roque explained that special safeguards measures are being imposed on imported goods from countries that subsidized their respective farmers.
“This is higher tariffs in addition to normal tariffs being imposed. So we reduced that. The result of this will lower the tariffs to be paid on imported poultry products,” he explained.
He said Piñol has emphasized the need for pork importers to utilize their minimum access volume quota.
“So 50 percent daw po ay hindi nagagamit doon sa ating mga quota holders. So binigyan lang po sila ng isan buwan ni Secretary Piñol para sila po ay mag-import otherwise ibibigay po iyong quota nila sa iba (So 50 percent is not being used by our quota holders. They have been given one month by Secretary Piñol to import otherwise it will be given to others),” Roque said.
Roque said regular inspection is also being made on the warehouses of vegetable products and rice to closely monitor the level of inventory.
“And for the rice, there will be close monitoring in the arrival and distribution of NFA rice importations, nothing that imports have not yet reached the warehouses,” Roque said.
Roque said the National Food Authority (NFA) as well as the interagency and the inter-department committees are monitoring the distribution of NFA rice.
“The problem now is not of the lack of supply because we enough imported rice. The problem is the delayed distribution that resulted in bukbok (rice weevil),” he said.
Meanwhile, Roque said the price of imported onions is expected to go down following a consultative meeting the DA has conducted with onion traders and importers last week.
“The meeting resulted in an agreement that red onions will be sold at 55 pesos per kilo in retail stores; while white onions will be sold at 65 pesos in two weeks’ time,” he said. (Jelly Musico/PNA)
