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Saturday, March 29, 2008
Arroyo includes corn in grains monitoring
By Linette C. Ramos
With Elias O. Baquero
CEBU CITY -- Before the supply of corn grits runs out, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA) to find out if local distributors have been hoarding it or if it is distributed unevenly.
The President also instructed the National Food Authority (NFA) to ensure the availability of corn in government distribution centers "to provide responsible poverty relief to those most in need."
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Arroyo gave both orders after hearing reports from some sectors in Cebu about a shortage of corn grits here.
But local chief executives will not wait for the investigation results and have taken steps to avert a looming shortage of rice and corn, even if some of them have not felt a shortage or a price increase yet.
Town mayors have started consultations with grain distributors to come up with measures to prevent a shortage and to ensure a stable supply of both rice and corn, including dictating where the supply goes.
Addressing at least a thousand mayors, vice mayors, town and city councilors, and barangay officials from the province at the Cebu International Convention Center Friday, Arroyo assured that the National Government is strictly monitoring rice distribution across the country.
Uneven
The President is wary that with the high commercial price of rice due to a global shortage in supply, distributors might jack up the prices of cheaper NFA rice.
She said there were reports of a shortage of corn grits in some areas, and an oversupply in other places.
"Gisugo ko usab ang NFA nga iapil ang bugas mais sa mga pagkaon nga ibaligya sa mga mga Tindahan Natin outlets anha sa mga probinsya, sama sa Sugbo kung diin kadaghanan sa mga katawhan mangita ug bugas mais. The best thing we can do in the short term is to provide responsible poverty relief to those most in need," she continued.
In the island town of Bantayan, Mayor Geralyn Escario said she will ask corn growers to keep their harvest within the town to ensure a stable supply of corn if rice runs out.
"We have started to feel the price increase of rice but I'm not worried because we have corn growers in Bantayan and when I get home, I will meet and tell them not to sell their supply outside Bantayan," she told Sun.Star Cebu Friday afternoon.
Escario will also meet with rice distributors to appeal to them not to hoard rice and to sell at the most reasonable price.
Food theft
League of Municipalities of the Philippines Cebu Chapter President and Dumanjug Mayor Glen Baricuatro said he will call the mayors to an emergency meeting early next week to come up with solutions.
In his town, consumers have not felt any shortage in the rice supply but he admitted that the harvest of rice and corn has been scant recently.
"The price of rice has increased only recently but I'm sure we will feel the effects soon. Right now, we are just monitoring prices and we're discussing with NFA how we can ensure allocation of rice and a stable supply," Baricuatro said.
In Barili, the effects of the increasing prices of rice and other commodities have manifested in the kinds of crimes committed there.
Mayor Teresito Mariñas said recent theft incidents in the southwestern town involved food. As a precautionary measure, town officials will discuss the possibility of limiting the quantity of rice or corn sold to consumers.
"We will ensure that there is no hoarding of rice and discuss if we can limit the number of kilos of rice one can buy because naturally, the rich can always afford to buy more," he said.
PB attention
Toledo City Mayor Arlene Zambo, Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Moreno and Dalaguete Mayor Andrade Alcantara said the price of rice has increased in their localities, but they are optimistic that with the cooperation of the grain distributors, the National and Provincial Government, prices will stabilize in the coming weeks.
The Provincial Board has invited all town and city mayors or their representatives to the session this Monday for a briefing on the state of rice and corn supply in the Province.
An official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 on Friday said that some unscrupulous rice traders are hoarding rice stocks to create an artificial shortage, after the reported rice crisis in Metro Manila.
DA 7 Technical Director Eduardo Alama said that sometimes, unscrupulous rice traders take advantage of reports that rice suppliers in Vietnam and Thailand cannot deliver in full the stocks needed by the Philippines.
"If we (at DA) look at our data, there is no shortage of supply," Alama said.
He explained that while Central Visayas farmers only produce about 39 percent of the total consumption, the other 61 percent is filled up by the supply from rice-producing regions and importations by the NFA.
Monitoring
In just one week, Ganador, the most popular local brand, has become scarcer in local stores. If the rice variety is on display, the price increased from P31 per kilo a week ago to P35 per kilo Friday.
Edgar C. Diez, public information officer of NFA 7, said that an inter-agency task force will be created and will be launched on Tuesday to inspect warehouses of rice traders.
The task force will be composed of the DA 7, NFA 7, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine National Police.
The task force will concentrate on monitoring the movement and trade of commercial rice.
The NFA 7 has suspended the operation of at least six NFA retailers because of policy violations. Some NFA retailers are being investigated because they closed their stores, while the others withdrew their allocations without proof that they sold their stocks to poor consumers. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (March 29, 2008 issue)
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