00:00 A group of rice traders were attacked by a group of people who lost their lives because of the rice price ceiling.
00:07 Many retailers are not following the price limit yet,
00:11 but those who sell in Davao region were forced to sell their stock first.
00:17 And that's what Maki Polido is targeting.
00:19 The rice retailers were also attacked by some of the rice traders and millers
00:28 or those who supply rice to the stores.
00:31 To be included in the price cap, the rice trader, Malu Tolantino, sold 44 pesos per kilo of well-milled rice.
00:38 But in reality, he only earned 48 pesos, so he lost 4 pesos per kilo because the rice is still expensive.
00:45 So if we count, he lost 52,000 pesos today because he sold 260 cabans in Barangay Gulod, Novaliches, Quezon City.
00:54 Malu can't say if he will still follow this.
00:57 We don't promise anything. We don't have anything to hide because we are legitimate businessmen.
01:06 The sale earlier was part of the program of the Department of Trade and Industry
01:11 to directly sell rice from traders to the millers.
01:14 DTI will not replace the losses of the traders.
01:17 They can now offset or compensate for their sales of other types of rice.
01:22 But since there are people who are interested, DTI will start selling rice on wheels next week
01:28 that will sell 41 pesos of regular milled and 45 pesos of well-milled.
01:33 Maybe not all of their inventory, but they will give some.
01:38 One of the complaints from the millers is that their consumption is high
01:42 because they have pets that are considered family.
01:47 Our pets are also what we eat.
01:52 The rice watchers don't believe that the traders lost money.
01:56 According to their monitoring, the price of rice is 19 pesos per kilo.
02:01 So the well-milled should be only 32 pesos.
02:05 The traders buy the rice from the millers at the price dictated by them.
02:11 As long as there is no regulation on buying rice, selling rice, and importing it,
02:17 and the rice production remains low, the rice crisis will not be resolved.
02:22 In order to lower the price of rice, the government really needs to subsidize the needs of our farmers.
02:32 Until today, some rice retailers in Puerto Princesa City have been grouped to follow the price ceiling of rice.
02:39 In Davao Region, rice retailers are asked to first finish their stock so that they won't lose money.
02:46 Tomorrow, DTI and DSWD will start distributing 15,000 pesos subsidies to rice retailers in four cities in Metro Manila,
02:55 particularly in Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, and Caloocan.
02:59 For GMA Integrated News, Mackie Pulido, Katutok, 24 Hours.
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03:20 [Music]
