Mayor Evelio Leonardia said yesterday that he will request the National Food Authority to increase its outlets in Bacolod City, and that his office is forming a task force to ensure that no hoarding of the commodity takes place and distribution continues to be orderly.

Leonardia also told the DAILY STAR last night that he is inviting representatives from the NFA, the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, the barangays and other sectors to join the task force.

Meanwhile, Secretary to the Mayor Goldwyn Nifras said yesterday that reports show long lines of people in Manila queuing to purchase NFA rice. This could happen when there are few outlets, he said, and could give a wrong signal that there is rice shortage when, in fact, there is none, particularly in Bacolod and Negros Occidental, he said.

If there are sufficient NFA outlets in Bacolod and in the province, what is happening in Manila will not happen here, Nifras said. “This will assure the people that we have enough rice and that we do not have to purchase more than what we buy regularly, he said. This will also prevent the perception of a rice shortage,” he added.

Nifras said they will also look into the complaints of some retailers that they are not receiving from the wholesalers the same amount of stocks as they used to get. They will look very closely into this as it could be an indication that there is hoarding of stocks, which will result in an increase in the prices of rice, he said.

The NFA reported, he said, that there is sufficient stock of rice, including commercial rice, for the city and the province. But right now, he said, there is apparently an artificial shortage.

This is what the task force aims to address, Leonardia said.

What is becoming apparent now is that the price of commercial rice is increasing, Nifras said, because reports indicate that some commercial rice is being sold at P35 per kilo when it used to be only P26.*CGS

back to top