NFA-Bohol: No rice sabotage

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — Rice trading in the local market proved to be clear from "adulteration" or the practice of mixing NFA and commercial rice that is passed on to consumers as commercial rice.

NFA-Bohol Provincial Manager Peng Evasco issued this statement last Friday after her office inspected the outlets of rice traders around the province.

Evasco, in a statement through NFA information officer Jhoel Lim, vehemently denied reports in the local papers that NFA rice in Bohol may be sabotaged.

She said there was no sabotage done by retailers, such as adulterating or mixing NFA with commercial rice so they can pass it on to consumers as commercial variety with a higher price.

NFA-Bohol has been strictly monitoring its Institutionalized Bigasan Sa Palengke (IBSP) and other accredited outlets for any violation that they might commit, said Evasco.

The manager also denied the reported unavailability of NFA rice in the towns of Loboc and Sevilla and in Cogon Market in the city, saying that accredited outlets in these areas have been complying with NFA's rice trading rules and regularly buying and selling their weekly rice allocation from the agency.

Based on NFA-Bohol's inspection report, Evasco said there was no adulteration or mixing of NFA rice with commercial rice in the identified accredited outlets in those towns and in Cogon Market.

There was also no hoarding and any unreasonable depletion of NFA stocks based on the volume of inventory present during the inspection vis-à-vis the rice allocation the outlets bought from NFA, she said.

NFA-Bohol's accredited outlets buy their rice allocation on a weekly basis a day before their town's market day. An accredited NFA outlet can be identified through the IBSP signboard, prominently displayed in its stall.

To ensure the visibility of NFA rice in the markets, Evasco ordered the NFA's senior enforcement and investigation officer to inspect the location of all outlets and make sure that these are accessible to consumers.

Out of the 47 towns in Bohol, only nine have no accredited IBSP market outlets since the previous accredited outlets have become inactive.

The NFA-Bohol has already started facility inspection of prospective IBSP outlets in the nine towns in order to ensure that NFA's P27-per-kg rice will be available throughout the province.

Evasco called on consumers to be vigilant and advised them to report to NFA any irregular activity that they might observe in the rice traders.

The NFA-Bohol has a Customer Assistance Unit that handles complaints and queries relative to rice trading, and this can be contacted via telephone number 412-2371 or 412-3366.

Evasco further assured consumers of sufficient rice supply this lean season, saying that NFA-Bohol recently received 58,000 bags of  rice shipment that were unloaded in the city and in Ubay town to beef up the agency's operational and buffer stocks in the province. (FREEMAN)