Saturday, April 05, 2008 NFA escorts rice delivery to outlets By Rachelle Nessia
THE National Food Authority (NFA) here is now strictly monitoring the delivery of NFA rice to its accredited outlets in Negros Oriental.
Rolando Lazalita, NFA Information Officer, said that starting this week NFA personnel will escort the transport of NFA rice to NFA-accredited outlets namely: Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palenke, Tindahan Natin and Handog sa Parokya.
The move, based on an order from NFA's central office for nationwide implementation, is aimed at ensuring that rice bags bought from NFA warehouses will reach its intended accredited outlets.
There have been allegations that NFA rice bags from the warehouse do not reach the accredited outlets as they are sold along the way.
"Dili kuno kaabot sa intended outlets, na'ay baligyaan along the way. But these are only allegations," said Lazalita, adding that this violation is not rampant in the province.
NFA will also be monitoring NFA-accredited outlets through its Palengke Watch field teams.
"We will especially monitor the outlets where we hear reports of rice diversion, or ibalhin ug laing sako ang NFA rice then sold as commercial rice," he said.
NFA rice only costs P18.25 per kilo compared to commercial or local rice, which is now sold for as high as P40.00.
Lazalita explained that consumers could tell the difference between NFA rice and the commercial rice from its looks and taste.
"NFA rice looks different because it is long-grained in shape and white in color, whereas some of the commercial rice has short grains and looks flimsy and transparent," he said.
"Once cooked, the NFA rice kusog mutubo that is why we call it economical rice. Ang commercial or local rice, hinay mutubo," he added.
He also urged consumers to be careful with the rice they buy in the local markets.
"If you suspect that you bought NFA rice that was sold off as commercial rice, please bring a sample of the rice to the NFA office," he said.
He assured complaints will be handled with "utmost confidentiality." Complaints may also be phoned in through its hotline numbers: 225-2823, 422-1731 and 225-6522.
"Just tell us the location of the store and we will verify the complaint," said added.
On the other hand, he warned rice retailers that violations of NFA's policies with regards to the distribution of NFA rice to its accredited outlets will be penalized.
Agriculture Secretary Yap has earlier announced NFA's direct method of distributing rice to the consumers in Manila, in coordination with Mayor Lim, Manila City Hall employees, civil society and church groups, will go full blast next week.
The rice distribution scheme in Manila is expected to be duplicated all over the country, especially in depressed and poverty-stricken areas.
Yap, however, clarified the NFA is not going into rationing.
"Dati na pong ginagawa ng NFA ang tatlo hanggang limang kilo lamang bilihan ng bigas but this time it would be selling the staple directly to consumers under the supervision of its personnel," he said.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will issue a statement supporting the NFA rice distribution scheme, he added.
The three to five kilos of rice are sold by NFA in depressed areas whose residents are in the list of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) qualified buyers. NFA rice may be bought for P18.25 per kilo, while the commercial variety is sold at P22, P25 and P26 a kilo.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the cold spell in Vietnam and China, two of the biggest rice producers in the world, adversely affected the global supplies of rice. Hong Kong gets 80 percent of its rice needs from Vietnam.
She said Philippine rice production this year has increased by seven percent because of the country's expanding use of high-yielding rice variety and the use of irrigation facilities. She was quick to admit, however, that new mouths to feed have also increased by six percent. (PIA/RMN)
