Congressman floats use of 74-year-old rice law to curb high rice prices

THE PHILIPPINE government could cite a 1950 rice law and a 1948 executive order by then-President Elpidio R. Quirino to curb the persistently high retail price of rice products, a lawmaker said on Monday.

In a statement, Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda said the Department of Agriculture (DA) could make use of the 74-year-old Republic Act (RA) No. 509, which allows the Philippine president to put in place a price ceiling on commodities to stifle spiraling food prices.

“We have reviewed the statute books for what tools the DA can use to end rice price abuse. We found several laws that have not been fully repealed, including RA No. 509, which would allow the DA a wide range of powers as soon as the President declares a rice emergency,” he said.

While the rice law expired in April 1951, Mr. Salceda said the government could use the 76-year-old Executive Order (EO) No. 184 to serve as a legal basis for the law’s application.

“The Rice Emergency Board institutionalized from EO No. 184 was never abolished, so we can look at the approach as a possible way forward,” he told BusinessWorld in a Viber message. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio