BACOLOD CITY — The National Food Authority’s (NFA) office in Negros Occidental will replenish its counterpart in Iloilo with 5,000 bags of rice once its own imported stocks are unloaded.
Frisco Canoy, manager of NFA-Negros Occidental, said an additional 2,500 bags are expected to arrive from Iloilo on Wednesday after the first batch of the same volume was delivered here last week.
NFA-Negros Occidental has been allowed by the agency’s head office to borrow up to 10,000 sacks from Iloilo while waiting for the arrival of its own imported rice allocation from Thailand.
A portion of the rice supply from Iloilo has been distributed among markets in the province through accredited NFA rice retailers. NFA rice sells for PHP27 per kg.
M/V Unison, the vessel carrying 80,000 bags of imported rice for Negros Occidental, has already docked at the Bredco port here and unloading began Wednesday.
“We expect that by this week, we can already sell stocks from our own imported allocation,” Canoy said.
On Tuesday, Canoy met with representatives of the Bureau of Customs, along with the supplier, cargo handler, insurer and surveyor, and personnel of M/V Unison, in a dialogue held inside the vessel.
During the dialogue, which is part of the importation process, concerned agencies and entities discussed the delivery schedules and checked the compliance to requirements.
Canoy said under the new importation contract, the NFA only comes in once the stocks are already piled inside the warehouses.
The supplier takes charge of the expenses for cargo handling, trucking, and labor, among others, he added.
“Once the stocks are inside our warehouses, we will immediately reject those found to have defects,” the NFA official said.
Canoy pointed out that the NFA will accept only “good stocks” or those that have passed quality standards.
Quality control personnel of NFA take rice samples to check the delivered stocks for defects. “Bad orders” will not be received, Canoy said. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
