ABOUT 200,000 bags of National Food Authority (NFA) rice had already arrived in NFA Davao warehouse and are expected to already be distributed in NFA outlets in Davao City by next week.
Earlier, NFA manager Leonila Selpa told Sunstar Davao that out of the 250,000 metric tons (MT) of imported NFA rice from Vietnam and Thailand, about 300,000 are allotted for Davao Region, specifically to be distributed in NFA warehouses in Mati City, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Tagum City, Digos City, and General Santos City.
The first 200,000 bags from Vietnam already arrived and are currently being unloaded to NFA Davao warehouse.
In an interview with NFA Assistant Provincial Manager Elaine Respecia last July 2, she said there had been no shortage ever since of NFA rice.
Currently, they are allocating 10 bags of NFA rice per accredited retailer every week. This allocation may change depending on the current volume and inventory level of NFA rice in the warehouse.
To make the 10-bag allocation last for an entire week, Respecia said the ideal limit of purchase should be at around three kilos of NFA rice per buyer, but it would actually be upon the decision of the retailer as well.
"There had been no shortage of NFA rice ever since. We should stop using the word 'shortage' because it misleads the consumers. We are just allocating 10 bags of NFA rice per week per retailer. It would actually be up to them how they would budget that allocation. If still early on the week they have consumed the 10 bags, the next allocation will be the following week already," Respecia said.
She also said this allocation varies and is not fixed to 10 bags a week. They also apply uniform allocation for all the 156 active NFA accredited outlets citywide.
In Bankerohan market, consumers may notice empty NFA rice canisters. A retailer was asked why there NFA canisters are not refilled when they have NFA sacks visible inside their store.
"This will be refilled tomorrow again. Our allocation for the day is consumed already," he said in vernacular.
Respecia said NFA rice is ideally for Filipinos who can't afford commercial rice however this may not be the case always. Even those who can afford commercial rice buy NFA rice still leaving less for those poorer families.
"But of course we cannot monitor this and tell retailers to only sell NFA rice to those who can't afford commercial rice. We can't. But we continue monitoring those who commercialize and repack NFA rice because that's really illegal," she said.
Respecia said they are still waiting for the 100,000 bags of imported rice from Thailand.
Earlier, Selpa also said they have at least a year's worth of buffer stock in their warehouse. They also have a priority mandate of providing the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the local government units, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and the other government agencies with NFA rice supplies depending on their requirement.
"We have buffer stock here in our warehouse. And we are thankful for that. Even before distribution to our priority government agencies and even before providing NFA rice to the market, we really make sure we have buffer stock for emergency cases," said Selpa.