AFTER massive inspection of rice warehouses in Cagayan de Oro, the City Price Coordinating Council (CPCC) has concluded that there is indeed no rice hoarding activities in the city.
The CPCC, along with the National Food Authority, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo), Philippine Coast Guard, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and other law enforcement agencies found no rice hoarders operating here after intensified surveillance and operations.
Lawyer Edgardo Uy, chairperson of the CPCC recalled that in February this year, the NFA made an announcement that there was shortage of rice supply but later clarified that supply was abundant, and only supply of cheap NFA rice was short because of a slight delay of importation.
However in the past months, Uy said a large spike of commercial rice was observed, prompting an inspection at the Mindanao Container Port in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental due to reports of rice hoarding at the port.
But the Bureau of Customs later clarified that there was a delay in the processing of the shipments, causing the delay of the release of the rice to the traders.
"All in all, there is a confirmation, as of September 22, that there was no hoarding of rice in the city. Surveillance and related operations by the law enforcement agencies are however on-going," Uy said.
The NFA-Northern Mindanao has also earlier assured that its warehouses are stocked with enough rice for the region's consumption until the import rice arrives.
It still has about 187,000 bags of imported rice and are already distributed throughout the region while the remaining bags are kept in the warehouses in Barangays Tablon and Patag waiting to be delivered.
According to the NFA, the daily rice consumption in Northern Mindanao is about 28,920 bags.