GOVERNMENT-procured rice is being sold in the Bicol Region for P33 per kilo, according to Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymond Villafuerte.
Villafuerte said the National Food Authority (NFA), has been buying more palay from local farmers enabling the agency to sell the grains at P33 per kilo to local governments units (LGUs), the Kadiwa centers, and other government outlets for the benefit of ordinary consumers.
Villafuerte said his province, along with several local governments in Metro Manila, are the initial local-partners of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in its new project of selling the staple at P33 or a maximum of P35 per kilo, following the DA’s declaration of a food security emergency earlier this month—as recommended by the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC)—to stabilize rice prices.
“In partnership with the DA, NFA, and FTI (Food Terminal Inc.), the provincial government, along with several LGUs in Metro Manila, are selling cheaper rice, as part of the President’s commitment to fight elevated inflation by, among others, enabling Filipino consumers to buy rice acquired by the NFA at more affordable prices,” Villafuerte said.
He said ordinary consumers, not only in CamSur and the national capital region (NCR). will benefit from this cheap rice program, but eventually consumers as well in many cities and municipalities nationwide, as the DA, NFA and FTI are partnering, too, with other LGUs across the country in the sale of the staple at P33 or a maximum of P35 a kilo.
Sellers are allowed a mark-up of P2 for every kilo of rice to be sold under this program, which will put a cap of P35 per kilo.
Villafuerte said the provincial government of CamSur will sell the P33-per-kilo rice at the provincial capitol in Pili, in Kadiwa outlets, and through other LGUs in the province.
Local LGUs interested in selling the cheaper rice will have to get in touch with the Office of Gov. Vincenzo Renato Luigi Villafuerte, he said.
Villafuerte said the authorized outlets in CamSur will be selling rice at P33 a kilo to consumers, as the provincial government will be subsidizing the added expenses such as the operational costs.
“We (CamSur LGU) will absorb logistics and other costs so we can sell at P33 a kilo, or without any markup, in support of this pro-consumer program of the President,” he said.
“This is certainly good news not only for our consumers, but for our palay growers likewise as they and their families are rice consumers themselves, and also because the NFA, in being able to dispose of its buffer stocks stored in its warehouses, will be able to buy more produce from our farmers in the summer harvest season, which it can then sell to LGUs, Kadiwa centers, and other government outlets,” Villafuerte said.
The lawmaker, on behalf of the CamSur provincial government, attended the ceremonial turnover of the initial rice stocks by DA Secretary Francis Tiu-Laurel to his department’s partner-LGUs at an NFA warehouse in Valenzuela City last Feb. 19.
He said that LGUs interested in selling the cheap rice will have to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the DA, the NFA, and the FTI, which is the DA-assigned agency to handle the sale of the staple to the partner-institutions.
