City government willing to help in distributing NFA rice

Citing the foreboding crisis of rice, Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said the city government wants to help in the distribution of rice to the market or to the public, by next week.

 “The city is willing to shoulder the expenses, like transportation, in the distribution of the rice, bisag walay ginansya,” the mayor said, adding that he will make representation with the National Food Authority to allow the city to sell rice to the people.

City officials are set to discuss the matter with officials of NFA and the Department of Agriculture, and the mayor said he is open to other suggestions on how to distribute effectively the rice stocks to the public.

Osmeña, citing the current problem in rice supply and demand, said he decided to take action by offering city's help in selling rice to avert moves of some NFA retailers to take advantage of the supply shortage by increasing the price of the commodity.

“The city is ready and willing, but I don’t know if we'll be able to do it well, to distribute government rice, because we have never done this before,” Osmeña said during his regular press conference.

With the shortage of rice supply, not all people, especially those in the mountain barangays, have ready access to the cheaper NFA rice, Osmeña said.

As such, he said the city will tap barangay officials and lay ministers for the distribution of rice to these remote barangays.

"There's no problem with the Catholic Church, so we will try to reach the Iglesia ni Cristo or religious ministers to bring rice to the four corners of Cebu City,” the mayor said.

Osmeña said the city would also tap other sectors for the distribution.  The city would buy the rice from the NFA and distribute it to the people, he said.  – Junel Joe Gato and Jo-ana Marie Desuyo /RAE