AMINADO si Pangulong Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. na madagdagan ang pag-aangkat ng bigas ng Pilipinas sa susunod na taon.

Ito ay dahil sa sunod-sunod na pagtama ng mga bagyong Kristine, Leon Marce, Nika, Ofel at Pepito sa bansa.

“I think so, unfortunately. I just received a report from the Department of Agriculture. Mukhang madadagdagan ang importation natin. We will import close to 4.5 million tons. Nag 3.9 million tons last year. Ang upper estimate is 4.5 million tons,” pahayag ni Pangulong Marcos matapos ang situation briefing sa National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council headquarters sa Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“But we have already in place the prices of rice, imported rice have gone down significantly since last year. We are not in competition like during the El Niño period. During the El Niño period tinamaan lahat ng ASEAN countries kaya tumaas ang presyo kasi lahat namimil,” pahayag ni Pangulong Marcos.

Kahit na mag-angkat ng bigas, kumpiyansa ang Pangulo na hindi tataas ang presyo sa merkado.

“We’re not competing. So the prices are staying at about 400+ 400 dollars per ton so that’s still– so our imported rice should be at that price. Titingnan natin. Of course, we are doing everything to control the price of food, especially all of those products that have been damaged or destroyed by Pepito– not only Pepito, the whole series of typhoons that have come,” pahayag ni Pangulong Marcos.