Philippines: Rice prices in some Bicol stores as high as P75 per kilo

Rice prices in Bicol has gone up to P60 to P75 per kilo in some stores, according to a consumer group. In Mindoro which is a rice producing province, the prices range from P58 to P60 per kilo, Bantay Bigas said. "Palaging binabanggit ng gobyerno na may stock, tumaas ang ating production... pero nananatiling napakataas 'yung presyo ng bigas, mas tumaas pa," said Cathy Estavillo of Bantay Bigas. "Inaasahan natin na dapat bababa kasi 'yung productin natin tumaas. May importation tayo," she added. (The government is always that there is sufficient stock, that our production has increased... but the rice prices remain high, if not higher. We are expecting it to go down because of our increased production and importation.) Solutions presented by the government since the previous administration include the setting up more post-harvest facilities. But according to Estavillo, this failed to lower rice prices. "Hindi talaga nila niru-root out 'yung dahilan kung bakit tuloy-tuloy 'yung ...