2.7 million sacks of rice headed for Zambo, ARMM

DAVAO CITY – The government will set aside a total of 2.7 million sacks of rice to Zamboanga Peninsula and provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) amid the reported rice shortages and price increases in basic commodities.

A joint statement of the government’s economic development cluster emailed said that at least 4.6 million sacks of rice stored in the warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA) would be immediately released while another two million sacks previously contracted would be delivered by end of this month.

Of this amount, 2.7 million sacks will be delivered to Zamboanga and the ARMM provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi.

The NFA Council has also authorized the importation of 10 million sacks of rice. An initial five million sacks will arrive in the country over the next one and a half months, while the other half will arrive early next year.

Some 12.6 million metric tons of rice or equivalent to 252 million sacks are expected to boost the rice supply as harvest in many parts of the country has already started, the statement read.

The economic cluster consisting of the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), and some members of the National Food Authority (NFA) Council convened on September 5 to counter increasing food prices.

It added the economic managers would recommend to President Rodrigo R. Duterte the “issuance of a directive to further simplify and streamline the licensing procedures for rice imports of the NFA” and urged the Senate to immediately pass the Rice Tariffication Bill within the month.

The economic cluster has also recommended the creation of a monitoring team consisting of National Bureau of Investigation, police, DTI, NFA, and farmer groups for surveillance of rice from ports to NFA warehouses and retail outlets.

The country’s inflation rate soared to 6.4 percent in August 2018, surpassing the 5.7 percent recorded in July, driven by increases in electricity, gas, fuels, fish, rice, personal transport, vegetables, and meat.

In Mindanao, ARMM had an inflation rate of 8.1 percent, Zamboanga Peninsula, 6.4 percent; Northern Mindanao, 6.1 percent; Davao Region, 7.1 percent; Soccsksargen, 7.9 percent; and Caraga, 4.8 percent.