ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has provided transport and security assistance to the National Food Authority (NFA) in the distribution of NFA rice in the islands’ barangays here.
This, as the NFA initiated the distribution of rice to provide cheap staple food to the residents in this city’s eight island barangays.
Lt. Commander Noriel Ramos, Zamboanga Coast Guard Station commander, on Wednesday said the assistance they render to fellow government agencies, such as NFA, is part of their mandate to bring government services closer to the people.
Ramos noted that most islanders cannot afford to travel to the mainland to buy basic goods, such as rice.
He noted the fare for a small boat ride to an island here, like Sta. Cruz Island, is PHP100 per passenger. One-way travel to Sta. Cruz Island is around 15 to 20 minutes. Fare rates to the other islands farther from the mainland are higher.
“We are closely coordinating with NFA and are always ready to assist them in this endeavor because we also wanted to help those island barangays to obtain ample supply of rice. We appreciate this initiative of the grains agency in serving the people,” he said. (Teofilo Garcia, Jr/PNA)
