A HOUSE leader has backed President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive for the National Food Authority to speed up the importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice to stabilize the supply and price of the commodity in the market.
At the same time, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte reiterated his call to return full control of rice imports to the food agency in lieu of private traders.
But he said the NFA must also run after “scalawags” at the state-run firm who might be selling NFA rice to private grains traders who, in turn, mix them with their imports and sell these stocks at higher prices.
“The President’s order to speed up rice imports should give all the more reason to the NFA Council to reverse its longstanding policy of allowing private traders to import rice in favor of giving back to NFA 100 percent control over all overseas purchases of the staple,” Villafuerte said.
“While the NFA can do the job of importing rice better and faster, it must also watch out for some scalawags in its ranks who sell NFA rice to traders as this will defeat the purpose of stabilizing prices in the market,” he added.
Villafuerte said President Duterte’s directive during a recent NFA council meeting for the food agency to fast-track rice imports, along with a crackdown on erring employees possibly in cahoots with unscrupulous grains businessmen, would stabilize domestic supply and prevent retail prices from soaring beyond the reach of ordinary consumers, especially during the July-September lean season.
According to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, President Duterte issued the order to the NFA to expedite rice imports during a recent NFA Council meeting and told the Cabinet he did not want a repeat of the 2008 rice crisis.
Piñol said if the importation process starts now, the stocks will arrive either late April or early May.
Villafuerte said the NFA should be given back full control over rice imports, considering that certain unscrupulous grains traders have cashed-in on the current system to corner the bulk of domestic supply and unduly jack up prices of this staple at the expense of ordinary Filipinos.
He called on the NFA Council to reverse its policy of letting private grains businessmen import rice through the NFA, following an earlier appeal by NFA administrator Jason Aquino to farmers to sell part of their harvest to the food agency so it could replenish its stocks.
“We need to fix the existing system to shield both farmers and consumers from the shady practices of private traders that have left the NFA helpless in carrying out its primary task of ensuring the stability of the price and supply of rice in the market,” Villafuerte said.
“Clearly, the present setup doesn’t work, as greedy grains traders have managed to game the system by cornering domestic supply through imports and heavy purchases of locally produced stocks and, in thenprocess, managing to influence and dictate retail prices through a seemingly ‘artificial’ supply deficit,” he added.