‘Riceless’ Zamboanga lifts state of calamity

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The rice crisis in Zamboanga is “officially over” as supply has started to stabilize, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said yesterday.

Piñol issued the statement after his meeting with local government officials of Zamboanga peninsula and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and executives of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Food Authority (NFA) in addressing the rice scarcity problem.

A boat laden with 180,000 bags of rice docked yesterday at Zamboanga port.

The volume of rice allocation was originally 110,000 bags for Zamboanga City and 10,000 bags each for Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and 20,000 bags for Zamboanga Sibugay.

Piñol said local leaders have decided that additional allocation will be given to the three island provinces with 20,000 each for them to have stable rice supply. Zamboanga will have 80,000 bags.

“This means the city will have rice supply from the NFA alone which is good for 13 days that will actually end the rice crisis,” Piñol said.

Zamboanga Sibugay Gov. Wilter Palma said the harvest started in the province and the produce is being delivered to Zamboanga City.

“I am happy to report to the President the crisis is over,” Piñol said.

“I never thought that this will end today. Everybody joined hands and came up with this great news that would please not only the people of Zamboanga but the President as well that as of today, the boat laden with rice starts to unload, the rice crisis of Zamboanga is over. That’s the biggest news today,” he added.

However, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the city will still be under a state of calamity for 60 days.

Isabela City in Basilan was also declared under a state of calamity for 60 days since Aug. 8 following the rice scarcity.

Salazar said the declaration was contained in a city council resolution and she will issue an executive order for the price ceiling monitoring in the city.

Piñol explained that rice smuggling was the cause of the rice crisis in the city.

“As we all know, rice smuggling has been a way of life in this part of the country. While we in the government called it smuggling, people in the island considered it as part of their traditional trading practices,” he said.

Piñol said while the rice crisis is over, there are long-term and medium-term programs that the DA will implement.

As part of the long-term program, the DA has committed to develop a demonstration farm of 1,000 hectares in the LGUs involved, including Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The DA will fund and operate the farms.

The demonstration farm will also serve as rice production center.

Piñol said the DA and the local government officials will also propose to President Duterte the establishment of rice trading centers in the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi so that there will be stable supply of rice in these areas.

He said the volume of rice supply will be based on the per capita consumption of the population of the two island provinces or about 80 percent sufficiency of local supply with the proper safeguards to be implemented.

The DA chief also committed P100-million loan to Zamboanga Sibugay as he is impressed with Palma’s program of providing zero-interest loan to farmers who will engage in organic farming.

“The allocation will help them boost the production of rice in the region and this is also a token from the DA to Zamboanga Sibugay for helping Zamboanga City,” Piñol said.

NFA chief won’t resign

Meanwhile, NFA chief Jason Aquino has decided to remain in his post despite calls for him to step down following the still unresolved issue of rice supply and high prices of the commodity in the market.

Senators are pressing Aquino to resign over the NFA’s failure to bring down prices of rice and curb shortage in some areas despite the importation.

But Aquino remained firm and called on interested parties “to get out of their comfort zones, go out to the field, and look into the root cause of the current rice and other problems.”

“My position is dependent on the trust and confidence of the President. We have been quietly doing our work. We don’t brag about it. I am not a person endowed with a glib tongue who can regularly and spontaneously dish out empty talk to impress,” he said.

“I go out to the field to mingle with local officials, talk to the local folk, feel their pulse, know their problems, and offer solutions rather than empty promises,” he added.

The NFA chief also slammed lawmakers who continuously blame the grains agency for the dwindling buffer stocks, delay of import arrivals and high prices of commercial rice.

“The NFA can only be effective in stabilizing the rice market if it has the right volume of buffer stocks. Isn’t it ironic that we are now being blamed for a problem of tight supply and high prices of rice that we tried our best to prevent way back last year?” Aquino said.

“We are open for scrutiny anytime. Those who want to verify what we had been doing, can check our records, go around the country and ask the people,” he added.

The NFA administrator emphasized that the current rice problem is a result of the several rejection of NFA’s proposal to either increase its palay buying price or to import as early as last year.

The NFA is intensifying its fight against rice traders who are illegally re-bagging and diverting NFA rice.

Aquino has appointed NFA National Capital Region director Carlito Co as focal person to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation on the conduct of warehouse inspection nationwide.

“We have to double our effort because it is not enough that we have NFA rice available if it does not go to the market and reach the people. We have to ensure that NFA rice is not diverted or rebagged, and then sold as commercial rice at a much higher price in the market by some unscrupulous individuals,” Aquino said. – With Louise Maureen Simeon, Marvin Sy, Eva Visperas, Rhodina Villanueva