Farmers led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, and Bantay Bigas held a picket protest on October 11 at the Commonwealth Market in Quezon City. They denounced the Marcos regime’s failed “trial and error” policies to control rice prices.

“Filipinos cannot trust the Department of Agriculture’s fearless forecast that rice prices will go down by mid-October,” the protesters said. Rice prices remain high in the market.

“If asked, ordinary consumers hardly feel the decrease in rice prices that the DA and economic managers claim. The price of rice is still over ₱50 per kilo,” Amihan secretary general and Gabriela Women’s Party second nominee Cathy Estavillo, said. Even the DA’s promise to lower the price to ₱45 per kilo is still unaffordable for ordinary Filipinos.

“Our fearless forecast is that the Marcos Jr government’s policies will only make the Philippines the number one rice importer again,” she said.

The KMP criticized the so-called “Rice for All” of the Kadiwa ng Pangulo Store, saying that the stores are very few and have very limited rice supply. “It’s just a big ‘showcase’ by the DA and Malacañang to make it appear that the government is addressing high rice prices,” the group said.

“Even adding 20 more KADIWA program stores would still fall short of making rice accessible to the masses. The bigger volume of rice in the market is imported rice, which remained expensive even after reducing tariffs,” KMP chairperson and Makabayan Coalition senatorial candidate Danilo Ramos (Ka Daning) said.

The plan of the National Food Authority to lower the farmgate price of rice from ₱27 to ₱23 per kilo is a big burden for farmers, he said. “In most parts of the country, rice farmgate prices are already low, and this is what our farmers are forced to endure. The cost of production is high, but the buying price is low, so they hardly earn anything.”