CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan — The National Food Authority (NFA) on Tuesday began distributing rice that costs PHP27 per kg. to selected authorized retail outlets in this province.
NFA-Bulacan Manager Elvira Obana, however, said that several of the accredited retailers have violated their contract to sell the subsidized rice in the market.
The violations were discovered by Obana and her team when they conducted an inspection in public markets in Malolos and Calumpit on Tuesday.
Those who reportedly committed violations include Anatalia Valentin, president of the Malolos Grains Retailers Association, who has two NFA accredited stores. One of her outlets has no NFA rice stocked in its designated box and has no tarpaulin that indicates the sale of the subsidized rice.
Other rice dealers, like Marites Jimenez, were found to have expired grain licenses while Felix Paguiligan has an NFA control number posted in front of his store but the number is registered to another person.
Obana summoned the violators to the NFA office in Malolos to explain and pay the corresponding fines.
Meanwhile, she said NFA-Bulacan has a total allocation of 100,000 sacks of rice, which are expected to be delivered until July.
“The initial rice stock has reached Bulacan last Friday, comprising 3,000 sacks of 25 percent broken rice and 13,000 sacks of 15 percent broken rice. The rest of the 85,000 sacks (will) be delivered as soon as good weather allows the downloading of the rice stocks from the ships docked in Subic Bay,” she added.
In the meantime, Obana said her office has pilot-tested allocating 10 cavans of rice per week to the accredited NFA retailers.
“More than 300 rice retailers were accredited by the NFA in Bulacan to sell its subsidized rice, but in the meantime, only 49 of them were initially allocated with 10 sacks of 25 percent broken rice to be sold to the public,” she said.
The NFA official said they initially distributed to the accredited retailers only the 25 percent broken grain to prevent unscrupulous traders from selling the 15 percent broken grain as commercial rice, which is strictly prohibited.
Violators may face stiff fines and penalties, she warned. (Manny Balbin/PNA)
