This program is for our consumers. ‘Yan po ang unang advocacy ng ating Pangulo to make life more comfortable, easier, and madalian ang ating consumers, lalo na ‘yung nahirapan sa pagtaas ng mga presyo ng mga bilihin. Early this year, especially January, naalala natin yung pagtaas ng presyo, especially ng products, as the result of the African Swine Fever (ASF), which limited the supply. Alam niyo po yung pork products, we are on retailing lalo na yung nasa wet market and even supermarkets, ang paggalaw ng agriculture products, up and down talaga depende sa supply and demand situation. This is particular din talagang tinamaan ng impact sa supply because of the ASF a year ago.
The supply really went down, kaya po nagkaroon ng isang programa din, lalo na itong PRD o “Presyong Risonable Dapat.” This program is also known in 2018 during the rice crisis. Ang naging solusyon po natin dito sa kakulangan sa supply, of course especially the agriculture products, the Department of Agriculture (DA) helps the producers increase in productivity, increase in yield they have on the production sides. Kung hindi tinap yung production, of course, we have to augment the supply because otherwise the 110M Filipinos will be the one suffering sa pagtaas ng presyo. Ano ang solusyon doon? It’s really importation temporarily, but we continue to give up the supply. Itong importation sa leadership ng ating Pangulo, unang-una nilagdaan niya yung Executive Order (EO) that will lower the tariff rates. Maraming sumalungat, but in the end, it’s for the greater good. Lower tariff rate and more liberalized importation especially to agriculture products especially allowed the greater importation, but importante doon greater supply now available.
Our principle, especially in the PRD when we started on rice in 2018, is we meet the traders in between. Mag-import yung retailers. ‘Pag mag-import dito, they will be able to sell imported price diretso na sa retail stores. That is why we are talking to the retailers. Our intention is to make the products readily available. Yung retailer na yung mag-import para diretso na sa mga tindahan nila. We are talking to a lot of retailers who have a good store so that when they participate nakakalat na agad ang murang produkto sa ating mga kababayan because of their stores.
I think in Metro Retail National Capital Region (NCR) alone. They will give this to more than five stores in the area. So immediately, ang point po natin dito is that ang ating mga kababayan may option bumili kung saan lugar. Ang hirap po kasi kung hindi available, mahihirapan ang ating mga kababayan kung saan bibili ng sinasabi ninyong mura na. We have to make it available para alam nila kung saan sila pupunta. They go to the supermarket. Karamihan ng mga supermarket na partners natin, mas mura pa yung pork kaysa sa palengke pero dahil doon nagkaroon ng competition ngayon, even sa palengke nakaka-offer na sila ng murang imported pork products. ‘Yun ang maganda sa competition. ‘Yun ang maganda sa making the products more available, and that is what we are trying to do, and it is already happening. The more supply that we have, the more participants Metro Retail Group dumadami rin yung available na products para sa ating consumers. At least ang ating mga kababayan ay may pupuntahan sila kung saan makamumura sila na quality pork meat products.
I think in this particular program sa Metro Retail, kasama na rin yung chicken. Inumpisahan sa pork, I think sinama na rin ang chicken that would benefit a lot of Filipinos. Marami pang ibang produktong nasama dito—may kasim, may liempo, pige. ‘Yung kasim at pige nasa P220 na, na dati ay P350. Tapos yung liempo, balik na sa P250 na dati ‘yan umaabot ng P400, so ang laki ng nabawas na because of that program that we have and of course with the help of the policy direction that was initiated by our President noong pinababa niya at pinagalaw niya importation that would be temporarily.
We hope that we support the agrisector local producers, at maraming programang ginawa ng DA para sa kanila ay maka-recuperate at makaka-meet sila ng mas maraming suppliers ng pork products in the near future. Temporary po ito, pero at least ang ating mga kababayan will help access to lower price of pork products. Hopefully with this, mas maging masaya ang Kapaskuhan kasabay na diyan ang re-opening ng ating economy as you know, nararamdaman natin ngayon ang unti-unting pagbabalik ng ating mga mamimili, ng ating consumers, and we’re so happy. Ang assessment po natin below pre-pandemic and its fine as long as nag-reopening umaakyat na pakonti-konti.
The improvement of Alert Level 3 and adding more cities, Regions 4, 7, 11 and putting them under the Alert Level system at iba’t ibang alert. Mas dadami na yung mas re-open na sectors and reopening the economy, and more importantly, jobs will be back yung mga nag-reopen na sector ay balik trabaho na. May income na pambili na ang ating mga kakabayan sa PRD program Metro Retail Group.
Hopefully, magtuloy-tuloy na po ito. Ang atin pong paalala, all of us will be at success kung lahat tayo magtutulungan pagdating sa minimum health public standard. Nandiyan pa ang virus, kaya kailangan yung atin pong observation ng public health standard will still be there. Ang ating recovery program ay tuloy-tuloy ang vaccination, and hopefully, we can move towards. ‘Pag kaya na ng supply ulit doon na tayo sa additional shot that will give more immunity. Down the road, as we move to the “New Normal,” we’ve been proposing for allowing more antigen test in private, kaniya-kaniya sa bahay natin. Sana mabigyan tayo ng mga antigen test kit or making it available, affordable so that bago lumabas, twice a week, we can do our own antigen test para paglabas natin alam natin. The system movement towards the “New Normal”.
Part of our effort na matulungan ang ating mga kababayan, especially sa agriculture sector, ito naman po tulong sa kanilang exportation. Tomorrow, we will able to finalize FTA in South Korea and because of that, we will able to approve ang pinakamalaking export natin sa agriculture which is banana. Ang ating banana producers would be happy because we will help better market access in South Korea. We will have the signing tomorrow, and we finish the negotiation last Friday that would mean lower tariff rate for banana entering South Korea. The South Korean people would be happier kasi bababa din ang presyo sa kanila, and imagine po ang ating banana tariff rate at 30% would be 0% in five years, and isa pa yung pineapples.
Again, we’re doing this ‘di lang tayo puro import, export din tayo to help also the producers. The whole government of President Duterte is helping lahat hindi lang kababayan, consumers for lower price and even the producing sectors like agriculture as well as the industry.
Maraming salamat po, at good morning ♦
Date of Release: 26 October 2021