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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Councilors slam NBI over rice hoarders
DAVAO CITY -- Some members of the City Council are disappointed by the National Bureau of Investigation's (NBI) inability to pinpoint and apprehend rice hoarders in Davao City.
"You are not doing your job well if you can't find the hoarders even if there are reports of such," Councilor Nilo Abellera told a representative of the NBI invited to shed light on the agency's role in the rice crisis during Tuesday's regular session.
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Lawyer Arcelito Albao, NBI-Southeastern Mindanao Regional Office (Semro) spokesperson, told the council that NBI's Rice Monitoring and Enforcement Task Force has booked a total of 15 violators.
He added that the violations are minor and include such breaches as incorrect labeling and packaging.
The NBI officer, however, earned the ire of yet another councilor, this time Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Paolo Z. Duterte, when Albao said they do not have the list of violators.
When Councilor Bonifacio Militar asked if the pieces of evidence are kept in a safe place to ensure that these are preserved, Albao said the NBI does not have such power.
Albao said the cases against the violators would be filed this month, but did not give a definite date, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila.
He added the cases could not be acted upon promptly as DOJ officials are in Mindanao to implement the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's directive on the rice problem.
Councilor Conrado Baluran cited a warehouse in Toril that stores palay, but Albao said the NBI has already checked the warehouse and found nothing illegal there.
"Hindi sumobra sa (It did not exceed the) declared daily transaction," Albao said.
Increased allocation
National Food Authority (NFA) manager Lorenzo Camayang meanwhile said they have not yet increased the number of outlets in the city but have increased the allocation for each outlet.
The eight outlets in Bankerohan Market, which used to get 15 bags each per day, will now get 45 bags each while the four outlets in Agdao Market, which used to get 35 sacks each per day, is now getting 40 sacks.
NFA intends to put up outlets in the markets of Piapi, Mabini, and Matina.
The City Government will, however, apply for additional outlets in the barangays, with the Department of the Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) issuing the permits, he said.
The City Government aims to have at least two NFA outlets per barangay outside of the NFA outlets in the markets and parishes.
Camayang also said the entry of the P25 per kilo Thailand rice in the market has helped lower the prices of commercial rice.
Those being sold at P45 per kilo are now sold at P38, the P46 per kilo is now P43, and the P48 per kilo is now P46.
"We will continue to conduct monitoring of prices everyday," Camayang said.
Price ceiling
A ceiling price of P40 has been set by local rice traders on commercial rice to prevent unscrupulous establishments from overpricing the staple.
According to Metro Davao Grains Traders president Juanito Loyola, they have agreed on this amount during a meeting Monday.
Loyola explained that since they sell the grains to retailers at P38 per kilo and the retailers aim to have about P1-P2 profit per kilo, the prices could not go beyond P40.
But this is conditional. "We will stick to the P30 per kilo price if our sources from Luzon do not increase their prices," he said.
During the hearing last week, Loyola said they source their stock from Nueva Ecija and have to pay P60-P80 per bag for freight. He, however, said they recently found out that foreign shipping lines offer much lower freight rates at about P30 per bag and they will use this alternative soon. (GLP of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (June 11, 2008 issue)
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