MANILA, Philippines – The National Food Authority (NFA) committed 5.3 million kilos of aging stocks of rice to sell to Kadiwa store operators by the end of December.
NFA administrator Larry Lacson said on Wednesday, December 18, during the House of Representatives’ quinta committee hearing that they currently have a supply of 106,824 bags of aging rice (equivalent to 5,341,200 kilos) for December, which they can sell at P29 per kilo to Kadiwa operators.
For January 2025, Lacson committed 308,539 bags of aging rice (equivalent to 15,426,950 kilos).
The NFA Council approved last June the sale of aging rice buffer stocks at P29 to Kadiwa centers. Lacson told Rappler that they would have to get the council’s approval “or any legal cover” if they were to sell fresh stocks, too.
At a selling price of P29, Iloilo 1st District Representative Janette Garin estimated that the public may buy NFA rice in the market at P32 or P33.
This was the final point tackled by the House quinta committee on their last hearing for 2024.
The House formed the quinta committee to investigate why the tariff cut did not bring down rice prices and the possible collusion among industry players. (READ: NEDA official admits tariff cut did not drive down rice prices)
Aside from securing the NFA’s commitment to sell aging rice stocks to Kadiwa operators, the House quinta committee also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to launch a probe into the supply chain — from importers to retailers.
What the House mega-panel wants
This is a tentative step toward what House lawmakers have been pushing for the past hearings: restoring the NFA’s power to sell cheap rice to the public.
Lawmakers reasoned that with the NFA selling rice to the public, the government will be able to intervene when private industry players allegedly jack up prices.
“The justification for NFA to intervene sa (in) the market is because of [the] profiteering condition right now,” House trade and industry committee chairperson Ferjenel Biron said on Wednesday.
“Alam naman natin, kawawa na talaga ang taumbayan. Kailangan ng gobyerno na i-disrupt ang merkado. So, government has to play the role of a market disruptor if only to bring prices down.”
(We know that it’s the public who get the short end of the stick. The government really has to disrupt the market.)
With the passage of the rice tariffication law in 2018, the NFA lost its powers to import rice and sell in the market. Its mandate now is to store emergency buffer stocking of rice that they buy from local producers.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. supports this move.
“I believe if we want to control the situation, mas magandang maibalik lahat ng powers ng NFA (It’s better to restore the powers of the NFA),” Laurel had said in a previous quinta committee hearing last December 11.
“It just has to be managed properly by honest people,” he added.
During the previous hearing, Garin had suggested that the removal of the NFA’s ability to sell rice in the market enabled collusion among private rice traders. – Rappler.com