THE National Food Authority Council (NFAC) on Wednesday approved the immediate importation of 32,000 metric tons (MT) of rice by the private sector via the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme to augment the supply of the staple in the Zambasulta area.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the NFAC gave its go signal during a special meeting on August 29. The meeting was requested by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ease the tightness in rice supply in Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (Zambasulta).
“The NFAC has authorized the immediate procurement of 32,000 MT, which will be delivered within 15 to 20 days after its procurement process is completed,” Piñol told reporters after the NFAC meeting. “It would be good for two months.”
To fast-track the delivery of the volume, National Economic and Development Authority Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said the National Food Authority (NFA) would not hold an open tender.
Sombilla said the NFA would select from among the groups that were allowed to import rice under the MAV. These groups would be chosen based on their capability to deliver the volume to the Zambasulta area.
The DA will monitor the delivery of imported rice to ensure that the imports are not diverted to other areas.
Apart from the 32,000 MT, Piñol said the NFAC also approved the purchase of another 100,000 MT of rice from the unutilized MAV allocation. The 132,000 MT represent the unused portion of the 805,200 MT MAV for rice.
Sombilla said the NFA may conduct the bidding for the 100,000 MT of rice as early as next week. She said the food agency will adopt the same guidelines used in the open tender for the MAV held last June.
“The arrival may take about two months,” she said in an interview after the NFAC meeting. “The awarding alone takes about one month.”
The government slaps a tariff of 35 percent for rice imported within the MAV and 50 percent for those outside of the quota.
The NFAC, the highest policy- making body of the NFA, also approved the additional allocation of additional rice stocks for Zambasulta, according to Piñol.
Last week the NFA sent some 100,000 bags of rice to Zamboanga City to serve as its buffer stock.
Smuggled rice
An industry source said Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi have long depended on smuggled rice because it was cheap and its quality was better compared to NFA rice.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said smuggled rice is sold at a retail price of P29 per kilogram just P2 higher than the NFA rice being sold at P27 per kg.
According to the source, small boats from Malaysia delivered small volumes of rice to the Zambasulta area daily. The volume, if added up, would be enough to supply the rice requirement of the area.
The smuggled rice came from Vietnam, with the smugglers using Malaysia as a transshipment point to bring the staple to Mindanao.
Some of the smuggled rice, the source said, reached Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and even Manila.
“Even the farmers became dependent on smuggled rice and abandoned their farms a long time ago,” the source said. “They did not earn anything from planting palay because of smuggled rice.”
Citing DA data, Piñol said the annual rice requirement of Zambasulta is pegged at 220,000 MT, of which 10 percent was locally produced.
From 2010 to 2017, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the Zambasulta area posted an average palay output of 33,924.80 MT, which translates to about 22,186.82 MT of rice at a milling recovery rate of 65.4 percent.
The DA chief said smuggled rice stopped entering the area after the Philippines and Malaysia agreed to strengthen border security.
‘Bukbok’, ‘galunggong’
The Makabayan bloc on Wednesday filed resolutions calling for an investigation into the NFA’s importation of 330,000 bags of rice infested with bukbok and the cancellation of an administrative order that allowed the importation of 17,000 MT of galunggong.
In House Resolution 2107, the Makabayan bloc directed the Committee on Agriculture and Food to conduct an inquiry on NFA’s importation of rice infested with weevils, the delay in its distribution and fumigation of infested rice.
According to the NFA, the imported rice at Subic Bay Freeport landed on August 2, but its unloading was delayed for a week due to heavy rains; the arrival of the shipment in Albay was not explicitly pronounced, but the discovery of the infestation was reported on August 21.
As countermeasure, the NFA fumigated the infested rice stock and pronounced a 12-day quarantine, expected to be finished around end of August or early September.
The bloc said the infestation was caused by the long delay of its unloading, as it usually occurs when rice is stocked for a long period of time. It added that carrying out of fumigation is a threat to public health, and the quality of rice is already downgraded, as rice kernel on where the rice weevil incubates its offspring and serve as food, naturally crumbles and becomes powdery.
Earlier, House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Jose Panganiban of ANAC IP party-list also filed a resolution to inquire into the shortage of NFA rice, as well as the reported price manipulation.
The bloc also filed House Resolution 2106 calling for the rescission of the administrative order issued by the DA allowing the importation of 17,000 MT of galunggong.
On August 17 Piñol issued an order allowing the importation of galunggong, or round scad, as a way of easing inflation.
Pamalakaya-Pilipinas National Chairman and former Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap contradicted the government’s justification and blamed that the decline in fish production is brought about by the implementation of the Fisheries Code and its amendments.
The bloc and Hicap also attributed the increased cost of production in the fisheries sector to the enactment of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, that it said triggered “ceaseless” price hikes of petroleum products.