BY: FAYETTE C. RIÑEN
CEBU CITY, July 9 (PIA) – An Inter-Agency Committee on Rice has just been created chaired by the National Food Authority (NFA-7) to check on stability of supply and quality of commercial rice including NFA rice access in the markets.
Zaide Bation, chief of the Consumer Welfare and Business Regulatory Division (CWBRD) of the DTI-Cebu Province bared the inter-agency committee was formed last week during a meeting that tackled the rice situation in Central Visayas including Cebu.
Bation said committee members included DTI-Cebu, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the National Bureau of Investigation-7.
The DTI-Cebu official assured the group will be very active including mounting regular monitoring of any rice hoarding activities by rice traders who might exploit the situation.
“We already have schedules in checking warehouses to check on possible hoarding,” said Bation during the recent forum of the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO-7) that tackled ‘Rising Oil Prices and Impact to Costs of Basic Goods and Commodities.’
Amid news reports on rising prices of commercial rice in the market especially in Manila, the issue was aggravated by suspicions of commercial rice being mixed with NFA rice and the availability of NFA rice in public markets which Bation said will be part of their monitoring.
The past few weeks however also witnessed the steep prices of agricultural products with garlic exhibiting the highest price from P300 to almost P400 per kilo. But Bation said monitoring of prices on agri products is not part of their agency mandate as this falls under the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“We however, are open to partnering with the DA for any price monitoring on agricultural goods,” including measures to be implemented to ensure that consumers do not fall prey to unscrupulous traders. (mbcn/fcr/PIA-7)