Manila (29 August) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo surprised Mandaluyong City residents when she paid an unannounced visit to the Boni public market along Barangka Drive yesterday morning.

The President, who was accompanied by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, made the surprise visit to check on the prices of goods, particularly rice, being sold in the Boni market.

From the poultry and meat sections, she proceeded to the fish section on her way out.

She gamely shook hands and had her picture taken with residents who suddenly showed up at the market when word got around that the President had arrived at the marketplace.

After telling Yap that she was particularly interested in the rice supply and price situation in the market, she was taken to a rice stall, a few feet away from the market, which was selling well-milled rice at P36; Sinandomeng, P37; Special Sinandomeng, P40; and Gold Cup Laon at P41.

The President expressed satisfaction that the rice being sold in the Boni public market was within the price range specified by the DA for commercial rice of P30-P40.

When she asked why no NFA rice was being sold at the first stall she inspected, Yap informed that the cheaper rice substitute was being sold only in large wet and dry markets and thus was evidently missing at the Boni public market

The President, through the DA and the National Food Authority (NFA), had stepped up efforts to address the increasing price of rice by flooding the market with NFA rice which is much cheaper at P18.25 per kilo.