(NBI Cabdo head agent and NFA Nueva Ecija manager Genoveva Villar inspect rice stocks at Vic Del Rosario Rice Mill in San Leonardo town. Owner Victor Del Rosario II explains their stock position. Photo by Armand Galang)
CABANATUAN CITY – A composite team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and National Food Authority (NFA) conducted a surprise inspection on large rice warehouses in Nueva Ecija on Monday.
But Pedro Roque, Jr., head agent of the NBI Cabanatuan district office (NBI Cabdo), said neither hoarding nor presence of government subsidized rice was found in warehouses they randomly inspected in San Leonardo town, and Science City of Muñoz.
Victor Del Rosario II, miller of locally produced palay and importer of rice, said they have only about 7,000 bags of imported grains to date, a far cry from their warehouse capacity of 100,000.
This, he explained, is because they continue to supply truckloads of rice in the market even as their imported rice are stuck in Port of Manila for lack of space for downloading.
Genoveva Villar, provincial manager of NFA Nueva Ecija, said inventory showed at least 1.4 million bags of rice are in commercial traders, some 600,000 in households and 17,000 bags in NFA warehouses.
With a total of 2.1 million bags, the inventory may run for 140 days based on estimated daily consumption of 15, 200 bags daily consumption of Novo Ecijanos, provided that none of the stocks will be sent out of the province, she said.
