The price of government rice may go up.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on Wednesday admitted that they are studying increasing the price of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) from the current P18.25 per kilo. He cited rising costs of production.
“As of now, [at] P18.25 [per kilo], we are studying the structure, [because] we cannot keep [this] price too long, the farmers might be affected,” Yap said.
He did not give a timetable for raising the price of government rice.“[We are] not sure when to make the decision [on the price increase]. We’ll try to come up with a rational pricing soon,” Yap said.
He explained that it is easy to make the decision but the Agriculture department, he said, is also considering that millions of people will suffer if the government acted hastily. Rice is the staple of the 86 million Filipinos.
Yap, though, hinted that the high costs of production will compel the government to come up with a new price for the wet season.
For palay [unhusked rice], he said, the government’s buying price of P17 per kilo will stay until end of May.
To stave off the apparent rice crisis, the Agriculture department has instructed the National Food Authority to increase its market share from 20 percent to 30 percent to respond to the high demand for government rice, particularly in Metro Manila.
Yap said local government units, faith-based groups, and the Social Welfare department will be tapped to help distribute the rice, especially to poor families. These organizations, he added, are to also help “stop the hoarding and diversion of government rice stocks.”
The National Bureau of Investigation also on Wednesday summoned three big-time rice traders for alleged rice hoarding and illegal possession of government-subsidized and imported rice.
Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, the bureau’s intelligence chief and concurrent head of its Task Force on Rice Hoarding, identified the three as Adoracion del Rosario of Philippine Grains Corp., Eleanor Rodriguez of Metro Grains Marketing, and Gloria Reyes of Isabela Green Fields Corp.
Diaz said a surprise inspection by the bureau’s agents of the warehouses owned by the three traders located in Bulacan, north of Manila, Taguig City in Metro Manila, and Paco district in Manila, showed thousands of sacks of rice, including government and imported stocks. Empty sacks bearing the logo of the food agency were also found.
All indications, he said, pointed to rice hoarding and illegal possession of government rice and sacks since the warehouses were not accredited by the food agency.
“We will ask them to present their log books and other supporting documents to prove that they are not hoarding rice,” Diaz added.
He said subpoenas had been sent to the suspected rice hoarders, giving them three days to appear before the bureau to explain their side.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez earlier created the Anti-Rice Hoarding Task Force, whose members are all prosecutors empowered to file charges against rice hoarders.
Gonzalez said traders found to be hoarding rice could be charged with violation of Presidential Decree 4 (National Grains Authority Act), Consumer Code of the Philippines, plunder and economic sabotage. The National Grains Authority, created in the early 1970s by the Marcos administration, is the forerunner of the National Food Authority.
In a bid to stop hoarding, Administrator Jessup Navarro of the food agency said they are expanding their direct selling through the help of different sectors. Although they cannot supply 100 percent the rice needs of the country, he added, the Philippines will be rice-sufficient in the next 58 days. He noted that harvest time starts soon. The government had said it was expecting a bumper crop.
To help sustain record-high palay yields and eventually achieve self-sufficiency amid an apparently imminent global food crisis, the Agriculture department has created the Eminent Persons Task Force. The group is composed of agricultural experts Dr. Emil Javier, Dr. Leo Gonzalez, and Dr. Santiago Obien; former Agriculture Undersecretary Apolinario Bautista; and Gregorio Tan, former administrator of the food agency.
Yap said the task force will watch over the department’s implementation of President Gloria Arroyo’s “Fields.”
Fields stands for fertilizer; irrigation; education and training of farmers and fishermen; loans, dryers and other post-harvest facilities; and seeds of high-yielding, hybrid varieties. Industry leaders and chambers of commerce have thrown their support behind Fields.
At the grassroots, the government’s efforts to keep the flow of government rice steady appeared to have hit some snags.
The coordinator of Caritas Manila, Fr. Mar Castillo, also on Wednesday said the dwindling supply of government rice in the market has become alarming, forcing them to “hide” rice for distribution before it ran out.
The government had tapped the Roman Catholic Church in selling the subsidized rice.
Caritas Manila is a Church-based charity organization founded by the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin.
“We don’t display it [government rice] anymore just to avoid a mob of buyers,” Castillo, also the vice-chairman of the Union of Church Cooperatives, said on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The priest said the allocation of 24,000 sacks of rice by the government thru the National Food Authority for all the dioceses of Metro Manila should be tripled for the Church to be able to cater to all buyers.
In Cubao, Quezon City, supply of rice for distribution to poor communities there was used up a few hours after the program started at the Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish Church.
The head of the Parish Social Service Committee, Rolly Retirado, said the number of sacks of rice given to them for distribution by the National Food Authority fell short of what they had expected.
“We asked for at least 25 sacks or rice, but the NFA said that they could only give us 20 sacks. I hope they will increase this [allocation] since there are many buyers,” Retirado told reporters.
Earlier, Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila said they have asked the Agriculture department to ensure that the “Bigasan sa Parokya” should get an ample supply of rice.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on Wednesday admitted that they are studying increasing the price of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) from the current P18.25 per kilo. He cited rising costs of production.
“As of now, [at] P18.25 [per kilo], we are studying the structure, [because] we cannot keep [this] price too long, the farmers might be affected,” Yap said.
He did not give a timetable for raising the price of government rice.“[We are] not sure when to make the decision [on the price increase]. We’ll try to come up with a rational pricing soon,” Yap said.
He explained that it is easy to make the decision but the Agriculture department, he said, is also considering that millions of people will suffer if the government acted hastily. Rice is the staple of the 86 million Filipinos.
Yap, though, hinted that the high costs of production will compel the government to come up with a new price for the wet season.
For palay [unhusked rice], he said, the government’s buying price of P17 per kilo will stay until end of May.
To stave off the apparent rice crisis, the Agriculture department has instructed the National Food Authority to increase its market share from 20 percent to 30 percent to respond to the high demand for government rice, particularly in Metro Manila.
Yap said local government units, faith-based groups, and the Social Welfare department will be tapped to help distribute the rice, especially to poor families. These organizations, he added, are to also help “stop the hoarding and diversion of government rice stocks.”
The National Bureau of Investigation also on Wednesday summoned three big-time rice traders for alleged rice hoarding and illegal possession of government-subsidized and imported rice.
Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, the bureau’s intelligence chief and concurrent head of its Task Force on Rice Hoarding, identified the three as Adoracion del Rosario of Philippine Grains Corp., Eleanor Rodriguez of Metro Grains Marketing, and Gloria Reyes of Isabela Green Fields Corp.
Diaz said a surprise inspection by the bureau’s agents of the warehouses owned by the three traders located in Bulacan, north of Manila, Taguig City in Metro Manila, and Paco district in Manila, showed thousands of sacks of rice, including government and imported stocks. Empty sacks bearing the logo of the food agency were also found.
All indications, he said, pointed to rice hoarding and illegal possession of government rice and sacks since the warehouses were not accredited by the food agency.
“We will ask them to present their log books and other supporting documents to prove that they are not hoarding rice,” Diaz added.
He said subpoenas had been sent to the suspected rice hoarders, giving them three days to appear before the bureau to explain their side.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez earlier created the Anti-Rice Hoarding Task Force, whose members are all prosecutors empowered to file charges against rice hoarders.
Gonzalez said traders found to be hoarding rice could be charged with violation of Presidential Decree 4 (National Grains Authority Act), Consumer Code of the Philippines, plunder and economic sabotage. The National Grains Authority, created in the early 1970s by the Marcos administration, is the forerunner of the National Food Authority.
In a bid to stop hoarding, Administrator Jessup Navarro of the food agency said they are expanding their direct selling through the help of different sectors. Although they cannot supply 100 percent the rice needs of the country, he added, the Philippines will be rice-sufficient in the next 58 days. He noted that harvest time starts soon. The government had said it was expecting a bumper crop.
To help sustain record-high palay yields and eventually achieve self-sufficiency amid an apparently imminent global food crisis, the Agriculture department has created the Eminent Persons Task Force. The group is composed of agricultural experts Dr. Emil Javier, Dr. Leo Gonzalez, and Dr. Santiago Obien; former Agriculture Undersecretary Apolinario Bautista; and Gregorio Tan, former administrator of the food agency.
Yap said the task force will watch over the department’s implementation of President Gloria Arroyo’s “Fields.”
Fields stands for fertilizer; irrigation; education and training of farmers and fishermen; loans, dryers and other post-harvest facilities; and seeds of high-yielding, hybrid varieties. Industry leaders and chambers of commerce have thrown their support behind Fields.
At the grassroots, the government’s efforts to keep the flow of government rice steady appeared to have hit some snags.
The coordinator of Caritas Manila, Fr. Mar Castillo, also on Wednesday said the dwindling supply of government rice in the market has become alarming, forcing them to “hide” rice for distribution before it ran out.
The government had tapped the Roman Catholic Church in selling the subsidized rice.
Caritas Manila is a Church-based charity organization founded by the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin.
“We don’t display it [government rice] anymore just to avoid a mob of buyers,” Castillo, also the vice-chairman of the Union of Church Cooperatives, said on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The priest said the allocation of 24,000 sacks of rice by the government thru the National Food Authority for all the dioceses of Metro Manila should be tripled for the Church to be able to cater to all buyers.
In Cubao, Quezon City, supply of rice for distribution to poor communities there was used up a few hours after the program started at the Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish Church.
The head of the Parish Social Service Committee, Rolly Retirado, said the number of sacks of rice given to them for distribution by the National Food Authority fell short of what they had expected.
“We asked for at least 25 sacks or rice, but the NFA said that they could only give us 20 sacks. I hope they will increase this [allocation] since there are many buyers,” Retirado told reporters.
Earlier, Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila said they have asked the Agriculture department to ensure that the “Bigasan sa Parokya” should get an ample supply of rice.
