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CEBU CITY, Philippines – The National Food Authority (NFA) agreed to increase to 30 bags the allocation to be released to local government units (LGUs) that want to act as rice retailers.
NFA Cebu manager Ramon Astilla said they would start releasing the allocations after the LGUs comply with requirements that would include the payment of P530 for the issuance of a license to sell.
The license will qualify a retailer to sell NFA rice within a period of one year.
However, Astilla said, the regional office cannot commit to an earlier proposal for participating LGUs to issue a letter that would guarantee payment of their rice delivery within a period of 30 days.
“Even without first evaluating the (individual) proposals of the municipalities we can already grant 30 bags. Since we already have existing (retail) outlets, LGUs should only complement the existing outlets,” he said.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia proposed for the provincial government to act as rice dealer and the different towns and cities in the province as rice retailers to allow the poorest of the poor access to cheap NFA rice.
In a meeting with the different town mayors on Friday, Astilla said the NFA could only allocate 20 bags of rice for each of the LGUs per week.
Astilla said Monday they could start with the allocation of 30 bags of rice.
He said the allocation may increase or decrease depending on how much each of the LGUs would need.
With this reason, he said the NFA will enter into separate Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) with the LGUs during the Provincial Development Council (PDC) meeting scheduled on Wednesday, to clearly specify their respective needs.
The Provincial Social Welfare Officer will issue Consumer Consumption Cards to identified beneficiaries.
Dumanjug Mayor Cesar Baricuatro, president of the League of Municipal Mayors Cebu Chapter, said that for as long as one has money, he can fall in line and buy as many kilos of rice from the Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke and the Tindahan Nation Outlets.
