President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government will focus on implementing a ceiling in rice prices at the National Capital Region (NCR) where significant increases were monitored.

"Now, the real problem is in NCR. It’s not so bad outside of Metro Manila. That’s why maybe we will be focusing our efforts in Metro Manila," Marcos said in an interview in Palawan on Friday.

He said the government put together a structure for the continued monitoring of the price ceilings which involves different government agencies including the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Justice (DOJ).

"They will now apply the price ceilings that I have ordered in the EO that I signed yesterday to make sure the prices stay within the limits that we have prescribed," said Marcos.

In a television interview, Gerald Glenn Panganiban, director of the Bureau of Plant Industry, said the government will intensify its operations against hoarders and smuggles as he confirmed that there are stocks of rice in different warehouses and storage facilities they have monitored.

"We have (rice) supply. We have monitored storage houses, warehouses, and ...they have stocks, so why, why are the prices increasing? So that's why we, the Department of Agriculture, the (Department of) Trade and Industry. Of course, (Bureau of ) Customs is going around and looking for these inventories to make sure that there is supply," he said.

"Some unscrupulous people or traders are using the external situation like the export ban, the prices of rice from the countries that we import from. So even if they have stocks, they wait for these prices to go up and then release their supply. So it happens not only with rice but also with other commodities. We've seen it with onions. That's why the government is really here to crack down on these hoarders or smugglers," he added.

Despite the series of tropical cyclones that entered the country in previous month, Panganiban said the government is "expecting the harvest for this coming season to fill the needs of our country." Robina Asido/DMS