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During his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. that glowing economic statistics mean nothing if Filipinos could not afford rice.

“The hard lesson of this last year has made it very clear that whatever current data proudly bannering our country as among the best-performing in Asia, means nothing to a Filipino, who is confronted by the price of rice at 45 to 65 pesos per kilo,” Marcos said.

“Even if these statistics are good, these mean nothing to our countrymen who are faced with the reality that the prices of commodities are high, especially food, and especially rice,” he added.

Marcos acknowledged that the market dictates the price of rice, which is influenced by several factors such as problems with supply, war, and natural forces including the effects of El Nino, but said this does not remove the fact that Filipinos are suffering from high prices of the staple.

He said that although the country had the highest palay harvest in 2023, it was not enough.

“Despite the challenges we are facing, we have witnessed the highest amount of harvest of palay in the country in the past year. This reached more than 20 million tons, the highest since 2987,” Marcos said.

“Even then, this harvest is only equivalent to 13 million tons of rice. This is not enough to supply the demand for 16 million tons of rice, which is why we are forced to import,” he added.

Marcos assured farmers that the government will be supporting them.

“We will give more importance to local production. That’s why we will continue to support the agricultural sector to fast-track, ease and strengthen production from planting seeds, harvesting and catching, until the transportation and selling to prevent the spoiling of the products,” Marcos said.

Marcos previously issued Executive Order No. 26 which lowers the tariff of imported rice from 35 to 15 percent as part of the government’s efforts to lower rice prices.

In a survey conducted by OCTA Research in June, sixty five percent of Filipinos said they consider controlling inflation as the most urgent national concern that needed to be addressed while access to affordable food was considered the second most pressing concern with 40 percent. Jaspearl Tan/DMS