PRESIDENT Arroyo ordered yesterday the revocation of the licenses and passbooks of all 5,000 National Food Authority retailers, but gave them the chance of renewing their permits subject to more strict supervision by the National Food Authority.

Arroyo also asked traders and retailers to refrain from raising the prices of their stocks in the face of a tight supply of the staple and the rising prices of oil.

The President, at the opening the National Price Coordinating Council and National Economic Development Authority-Cabinet Group meeting, said measures should be strengthened to cushion the impact of the rising prices of commodities.

She said the global economy is facing significant challenges which put a "strain on our working poor as prices for commodities like rice and fuel increase."

"We are a price-sensitive nation. Kaya naman pinulong natin agad ang gabinete at price council para sa anumang aksyong kailangan upang laging sapat ang pagkain," she said.

Arroyo said Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap and his department are watching all NFA warehouses and following "the big 10-wheeler trucks and see where they are bringing rice."

"He is investigating all warehouses, watching them, re-licensing them. He shall hit the hoarders. Patuloy ang iba pa nating pagkilos upang pigilin ang pagtaas ng gastusin… Dapat magtulungan tayong lahat laban sa pagmahal ng bilihin," she said.

Yap said after the NFA retailers, the government would re-license millers and palay traders.

"We will issue new passbooks and we will strictly impose a one-retailer one-passbook (policy). They should each be the ones to pay and claim these stocks from the NFA warehouses," he said, adding he expects the re-licensing to completed in two weeks.

Yap said there are retailers or claimants who go to NFA warehouses carrying 20 to 50 passbooks and withdraw all allocations simultaneously.

"What happens is that after the withdrawal, we don’t know where the ice is brought to," he said.

He said these warehouses are being closely monitored but declined to name the areas.

Yap said that through the reaccreditation, they would be able to review the financial capacity of each retailer and determine who would be allowed to continue in the grains trade.

"If we know that they have no capability to stay in operation, we purge them, shut them down," he said.

He said they are also looking into reports of hoarding in some provinces, including allegedly missing 14,000 sacks of NFA rice in Sultan Kudarat. He said initial reports reaching his office denied the hoarding.

Yap said while the re-accreditation is on going, NFA rice at P18.25 a kilo will continue to be available in government recognized outlets.

Trade undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said NFA rice and other "critical commodities" are available at Tindahan Natin, Agriculture Department’s Huwarang Palengke and DTI-certified outlets.

Yap said rising prices are not caused by a rice shortage, but by other factors such as high fuel prices, lower global production due to climate change, rising demand due to overpopulation, and the 150 percent increase in the price of fertilizers.

"Regardless of how high the prices will go, we’re going to keep it temporarily at P18.25, depending on how high exactly it will go. We have to give the government the latitude and the flexibility to make a decision at that point in time, depending on the movement of international prices," he said.

Yap asked Malacañang for the immediate release of some P1.5 billion augmentation fund in time for the planting season from June to July.

He said instead of "good seeds" that could yield up to three tons per hectare of rice, his department will push for the use of use "certified seeds" that could increase yield to 4.5 tons per hectare.

Yap also said the government would need to allot some P30 billion to make the country self-sufficient in rice.