DESPITE pronouncements by government officials that there is no rice shortage in the country, authorities inspecting rice warehouses found at least one to be empty yesterday.
Members of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) and the National Food Authority (NFA) inspected three warehouses of rice traders yesterday. They found one, which has a capacity of 50,000 sacks, empty as of noon yesterday.
NFA 7 senior investigator Emmanuel T. Benjamin Sr. said there are rice stocks but these are “scarce and not enough.”
But in a forum yesterday afternoon, NFA 7 Director Danilo Bunabon reiterated that there is no rice shortage. He said rice stocks are enough to last for another four months.
Last year, NFA imported about 41 vessels, equivalent to four million sacks, of rice. Bunabon said that farmers are expected to produce 7.2 million metric tons of rice in the entire country for the current harvest season.
Bunabon said that the inter-agency task force that will monitor rice stocks and distribution will be formally created and launched today.
Benjamin, meanwhile, said that with the alarming situation on rice supply, NFA and PASG will continue monitoring warehouses.
The Philippine National Police has directed all regional offices to coordinate with local agencies to see how policemen can help in the campaign against hoarding of rice supply.
Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria has instructed his deputy for operations, Supt. Erson Digal, to get in touch with the NFA, Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to see how the police can help.
Valmoria said they will establish the location of rice and corn warehouses and will provide the necessary assistance to the NFA in their inspections.
He said that if they receive any information on hoarding of rice, they will act in coordination with the NFA.
Jojo Collantes, PASG-Cebu deputy director, said they inspected the warehouses yesterday with a mission order issued by Bunabon.
Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines (Grecon) president Teresa Pepito Alegado, however, warned that inspecting and monitoring warehouses of rice traders in Cebu may be construed as harassment.
Caution
Alegado said traders might not buy rice from other rice-producing provinces for fear that their stocks will be seized on accusations of hoarding.
Alegado suggested that government start monitoring palay buyers and millers, who she said are controlling the stocks and prices of rice in the country.
She said millers are only selling well-milled and fancy rice and not the regular milled rice that are affordable to the middle class. As a result, she said, the middle class are now buying NFA rice, which are intended for indigent families.
At the Cebu Provincial Board (PB), at least two PB members insisted yesterday that there is a rice shortage in the province, citing the increase in prices in the market.
PB Member Victor Maambong said the high price of rice in the market, now close to P40 per kilo, indicates there is shortage in supply. Board Member Juan Bolo agreed.
The PB invited last Monday NFA assistant program manager Jesus Donque, DA 7 executive director Ricardo Oblena and Provincial Agriculturist Necias Vicoy to shed light on the rice situation in Cebu Province.
“Traders say there is a crisis in rice. No. There is no such thing. Rice might just be more expensive by P2 to P3,” Oblena told PB members.
Maambong, however, criticized the officials for deceiving the public. He said that if indeed the supply is enough, then prices shouldn’t have increased abruptly.
Maambong urged residents to be vigilant against rice hoarders and immediately report to authorities. He said he received reports of a rice monopoly in the towns of Dumanjug and Argao.
Yesterday, Vietnamese ship mv Bhin Puoc arrived in Cebu carrying 6,750 metric tons of rice for the NFA, said Dr. Emmanuel Labella, Bureau of Quarantine 7 head.
At the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu, the agency said it collected millions of pesos in duties and taxes from the rice importation of the Philippine International Trading Corp., a government agency.
Florante Ricarte, Port of Cebu assistant assessment chief, said PITC imported rice from Vietnam for several farmers’ cooperatives. It has paid the shipment’s tariff, which is 50 percent of the rice value.
Ricarte said that the PITC payments increased the Port of Cebu’s revenue collections for March. (EOB/With MEA and GMD)
