MANILA, Philippines – There is enough supply of National Food Authority (NFA) rice until the next harvest season, a Palace official said on Sunday.
Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr., said in a press briefing over radio station dzRB Radyo ng Bayan that there is 2.4 million metric tons of NFA rice in supply.
“Ito ay sapat para sa susunod na 72 araw o hanggang sa unang linggo ng Setyembre na kung kailan inaasahan ang resulta ng unang pag-ani o harvest season,” said Coloma.
He argued that there should be no reason for the prices of NFA rice, whether well-milled or regular milled, to rise and anyone found manipulating its value will be dealt with severely.
“Ayon sa NFA, we are advising the public that they will implement the full force of the law on those who divert, hoard, and overprice government or NFA rice,” said Coloma.
The price of the regular milled rice is P27 per kilo while the well-milled rice is at P32 per kilo.
The Communications Secretary gave an update on the importation of an estimated 800,000 metric tons of rice.
“Ang update mula sa NFA: Nai-deliver at natanggap na ang 193,000 metric tons bago magtapos ang Hunyo. May karagdagang delivery na 274,250 metric tons at sa buwan ng Agosto ay ang balanseng 332,350 metric tons. Nagbigay ng abiso ang NFA sa mga supplier na tingnan ang posibilidad na mapabilis o mapaaga ang delivery,” said Coloma.
Coloma also reported the outcome of the meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council last June 18, where all the stakeholders came up with a program called “Dagdag Alokasyon, Dagdag Outlet, Dagdag-Bantay, at Walang Pagtataas ng Presyo” or DDDW.
“Unang-una, Dagdag Alokasyon. Increase of allocation from 12,500 bags per day to 25,000 bags per day—doble na po. Ang ikalawa ay dagdag outlet from 1,018 to 1,120 outlets. Initially ay 10 percent increase para isama na rito ‘yung mga talipapa at mga smaller market. At ang pangatlong ‘D’ ‘yung dagdag bantay. Increase in monitoring teams at ‘yung paghimok sa ating mga kababayan na i-ulat o i-report sa NFA sa pamamagitan ng kanilang operations center sa teleponong 454-1214…At ang ikaapat ay Walang Pagtataas ng Presyo ang NFA rice,” Coloma explained.
The National Price Coordinating Council is made up of the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Justice, Department of Energy, National Economic Development Authority, and one representative each from the consumers’ sector, agricultural producers’ sector, trading sector, and manufacturers’ sector.
