ILOILO City – An association of rice retailers accused the National Food Authority (NFA) in Region 6 of being selective in selling rice to retailers.
In a complaint letter, 28 rice retailers belonging to the Alyansa ng Industriya ng Bigas (ANIB) claimed members who sought to buy NFA rice were turned away or released only with a few bags.
ANIB specifically cited an April 18 incident at NFA Iloilo’s warehouse in Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro district.
According to ANIB member Ronilo Samulde, early morning that day four retailers from their association went to NFA to buy rice but only one of them was allowed and this member was leased 20 sacks.
They, however, learned that three from a rival association of retailers were each released with 50 sacks of rice that day, claimed ANIB.
“NFA people told us they did not have rice stocks anymore,” according to Samulde.
Early this month, NFA’s central office announced its rice buffer stocks had been depleted.
The complaint letter did not name ANIB’s rival group of rice retailers.
“Rice retailers should be treated fairly. We’re selling government rice to the public,” said Samulde.
NFA is required to have a rice reserve good for at least 15 days during harvest season and at least 30 days during the lean months of July to September. For this, it buys rice from farmers.
These buffer stocks are maintained to ensure that the country would have rice in case of emergency situations or natural disasters.
The ANIB complaint letter was addressed to NFA regional director Angel Imperial Jr. He could not be reached for comment as of this writing.
ANIB claimed to have video and documentary proof of NFA’s bias in selling government rice to retailers.
The video purportedly captured a truck of its rival association of rice retailers leaving NFA Iloilo’s rear gate instead of the main gate; the truck was allegedly loaded with bags of NFA rice.
ANIB demanded “fair and transparent treatment” from NFA “as we consider ourselves your partners in the grains industry.”
The group also demanded an explanation from NFA Iloilo provincial manager Oliver Cambas. Cambas could not be reached for comment as of this writing.
Last week, various groups reported that the “affordable” P39 per kilo rice boasted by the NFA could not be found in markets in Metro Manila and the provinces.
“We have scoured major markets and rice retailers in Metro Manila but we did not see the P39 per kilo of ‘cheap rice’ boasted by the NFA. It’s a big hoax. The rice crisis is worsening, and we can only blame the Duterte government for this,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas secretary-general Antonio Flores said.
In a separate statement, rice watchdog Bantay Bigas and National Federation of Peasant Women aired the same observation, noting that the NFA’s “relatively affordable rice, priced at P27 and P32 per kilogram, has vanished.”
During a Cabinet meeting on April 16, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered NFA to increase its buying price for palay (unhusked rice).
The current buying price set by NFA is P17 a kilo. Farmers’ groups wanted this increased to P20 a kilo.
“Buy from the Filipino farmers first and if you could not find sufficient stocks to be bought at the price approved by the NFA Council, that’s the time you source it through importation,” Agriculture secretary Manuel Piñol quoted Duterte as saying during a Cabinet meeting on April 16./PN
