Rice Supply in Cebu is Sufficient

Amidst the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Cebu, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Dino guaranteed that there is enough rice supply in Central Visayas (Region-7) for the public to consume. Secretary Dino released this statement to ease the “panic buying” situation we are currently facing.

Grains Retailers Confederation (GRECON) Cebu President and Consolacion Vice Mayor Teresita “Nene” Alegado said that the supply of rice from the private suppliers are abundant as of the moment since they are no longer under the quota imposed by the government.

“Dili lang gyud ta mahadlok no, kay first and foremost si Governor Gwen (nagkanayon nga) ang supply walay problema ang entry, so as long as wala ta’y problema sa entry sa supply, naa ta’y kakuhaan gyud nga supply,” said Alegado.

She added that the current supply of rice is more than double compared to what it was from the same period last year.

“Continuous man ta, kaning mga importers considering nga mao ning sitwasyon, mo-order na pud na sila, di sila maghuwat mahurot na.”

Any supplier who is willing to pay the certain tariff can import rice based on the Republic Act. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law.

Meanwhile, the National Foood Authority Central Visayas (NFA)-7 has 139,939 sacks of rice in the region.

NFA-7 Regional Director Rocky Valdez that 36,420 sacks per day are being used as the daily consumption in the region.

Valdez instructed all provincial offices in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Negros Oriental to prioritize LGUs and other government agencies in availing of NFA rice. Valdez however, said that retailers are only allowed to purchase 15-30 sacks of NFA rice per week.

Meanwhile, Secretary Dino on his part, warned all retailers not to take advantage of the situtaion as he will make sure that sanctions will be imposed upon violators.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has imposed a price freeze for all basic goods stating that violators will face fines from P5,000 to P1 million, and/or imprisonment of up to 10 years. (MLC)