Speaker Romualdez: Congress vows to help bring down the prices of commodities
THE House of Representatives promised to help bring down the prices of commodities, especially food items.
According to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, they would form and merge five committees in Congress to take the lead in the investigation on the high cost of food items, particularly rice, despite the fact that the farmgate prices and even the prices in world market are low.
“Inatasan ko ang Committee on Ways and Means, Food and Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Food Security, at Social Services na alamin kung ang mataas na presyo ng bilihin ngayon ay dikta ng monopolya o smuggling,” Speaker Romualdez said.
The House Speaker also said, “Halimbawa itong bigas, binawasan na nga ang taripa ng mga imported rice ng Pangulo, at mababa din ang presyo sa world market, e bakit hindi bumababa ang presyo dito sa atin”.
He added that “nasa 50 to 60 pesos pa rin ang kilo ng bigas. Dapat yung savings ng mga negosyante naipapasa sa mga mamimili di ba?”
Speaker Romualdez also said that this would be the purpose of the “Quinta Committee” to determine the cause or identify those who are benefitting from the tariff reduction and lower price of rice in the world market and farmgate prices.
“Wala tayong sasantuhin kung sino man yan ang nasa likod ng pagkontrol ng presyo ng bilihin…ating sasampahan ng price manipulation or smuggling”, the Leyte Representative said.
“Let this be an advance warning sa mga tusong negosyante na nagpapahirap sa mga ordinaryong mamimili,” Speaker Romualdez added.
