LAOAG CITY — Members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) unanimously approved on Monday an ordinance prohibiting the delivery, removal or any act of transferring rice outside the province.
Ex-officio Board Member Domingo Ambrocio, in his capacity as chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, said Tuesday the ordinance is meant to secure the province’s rice supply after Typhoon Ompong inflicted damages worth PHP1.8 billion on rice farms.
Ambrocio added that to prevent rice shortage and unstable prices, the provincial government has to exercise its police power to ensure that palay harvest and stocks are kept within the province under the rice procurement program to benefit both farmer-producers and consumers.
“The anti-rice shortage ordinance shall take effect immediately within 120 days after each calamity, such as a signal no. 3 typhoon or a 6.0-magnitude earthquake,” he said.
Anyone found violating the ordinance shall be ordered to return the rice products to the warehouse or stores at his own expense, he added. (Leilanie Adriano/PNA)
