Wednesday, June 04, 2008 Trade secretary: Leave NFA rice for the poor By Carlo P. Mallo
TRADE Secretary Peter Favila called on the public to leave the cheaper National Food Authority (NFA) rice for the poor sector amid surging prices of rice in Mindanao.
With the instability of rice prices in Mindanao, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has called for an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the matter.
Rice in Davao City and in some areas of Mindanao has fetched a price of P46 to P52 per kilo, said Favila through phone patch Tuesday morning during a press conference called for by the regional office of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
"Since last night, the President has called for the monitoring of the prices of rice in Mindanao, especially in Southern and Central Mindanao," Favila said. "Anytime now we will be starting on the cabinet meeting called for by the President which will focus on the price increases of rice in Mindanao."
He appealed that the government subsidized NFA rice, which is being sold at P18.25 per kilo should be for the poor, and that those who can afford more should not compete with the poor.
Reports reaching Sun.Star Davao showed that there are now longer queues at the NFA outlets throughout the city. Some reports also showed high tension among the people in the queue.
Meanwhile, the NFA washed its hands from any responsibility over the unusual price increase of rice in the region.
"We do not have control over the increase of commercial rice," Lorenzo Camayang, NFA provincial manager for Davao City, told reporters Tuesday.
Camayang added that the price of rice is entirely left in the hands of the market as it has been deregulated as far back as 1986.
NFA administrator Jessup Navarro was also in Davao City Tuesday and conducted a dialogue with the rice traders and millers in the region.
