Deolly Roque, chief of the Regional Consumer Protection Division of the Department of Trade and Industry 11 (DTI 11), said on Wednesday that the agency will issue a notice of violation to retailers in the Davao Region who failed the price ceiling of rice after seven days that the EO 39 took effect.
The implementation of EO 39 or the “Imposition of Mandated Price Ceilings on Rice” signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., took effect on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
Marcos’ EO approved the recommendation to impose a price ceiling on rice at P41 for regular milled and P45 for well-milled rice.
“Kung makita nato pagbalik after seven days nga gi lower down nila (retailers) ug mi-comply sila sa price ceiling na P41 ug P45 ug i-compare nimo sa ilahang buying price on that particular stock na gibaligya nila within the price ceiling but once hindi nila gibaba still above the price ceiling definitely mag issue nata ug notice of violation and they will be subjected to the penalties and charges based on the guidelines,” Roque said during the AFP PNP Press Corps media forum at the Royal Mandaya Hotel on Wednesday.
Roque also said that based on the monitoring and feedback from the DTI provincial offices, no retailers are selling within the price ceiling directed by EO 39. She said that based on the reports of the DTI provincial offices, the current prices of rice are still more than P50 per kilo for well-milled rice (WMR) and regular-milled rice (RMR).
She said even to the three warehouses in Davao City that were inspected on Tuesday, they have given their price or selling price per sack that when converted to 50 kilos, it will still be above the price ceiling set in EO 39.
However, she said because there is still no enforcement DTI 11 just took note of the prices and will submit a report to DTI central office.
“Because ang central office nato karon sa DTI ug Department of Agriculture may mga ongoing discussion on what to do next. Yung mga information tanan na ma gather namo will be submitted to the head office. Since walay enforcement wala tay gi issue pa nga violations to those retailers,” Roque said.
