Transportation woes amid COVID-19 quarantine pushing prices of goods up

The difficulty in transporting rice and vegetables amid the enhanced community quarantine has led to higher prices in markets.

According to Sandra Aguinaldo's Wednesday report on 24, some rice sellers said that the price of rice has increased to P100 to P180 per sack depending on its quality.

"Nahihirapan po sila mag-transport ng bigas from Nueva Ecija to Metro Manila. 'Yung palay raw medyo tumaas rin," Crisencia Sario said.

According to the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), aside from being delayed at checkpoints, some local government units also required delivery personnel to undergo a 14-day quarantine if they came from Metro Manila.

"Kung hindi darating 'yung delivery, 'yung mga ibang businessman naman ay nagbabawas ng stocks and, of course, kung ganu'n ang mangyayari, magkakaroon ng artificial shortage," SINAG chairman Rosendo So said.

"Kung nadi-disrupt 'yung mga deliveries, malaki problema natin," he added.

Increase in vegetable prices at Tandang Sora Market and Balintawak Market were reported.

"Naghihirap ang byahe tapos 'yung lalo na po sa gulay Baguio kasi naka-lockdown nga po sa Baguio, hindi po makapunta dito 'yung mga gulay," Jay Abdulrahman said.

For its part, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) reiterated that the supply of food must remain undisturbed.

"Inuulit po ng IATF na dapat hayaan ang tuloy-tuloy na deployment ng mga kargamento at pagpasok ng mga gagawa sa sektor ng agriculture at food production," Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said. —Joahna Lei Casilao/LDF, GMA News