CASTILLEJOS, Zambales - Around 2,375 sacks of spoiled rice inside a warehouse here will be auctioned off after being declared as "unfit for human consumption." National Food Authority (NFA) Provincial Officer Fe V. Yap said the rice cannot be boiled and eaten since these were considered as "unfit for human consumption" and might result in food poisoning for humans. Yap also said that despite its putrid smell and low quality, many insects and other foreign objects have already taken refuge in these sacks of rice.
These sacks of rice came into the country last year from Vietnam. At the recent National People's Rice Congres, participants called on President Aquino to keep the NFA intact and shun the plan to transfer its functions to the private sector. After meeting from February 8 to 9 in Quezon City, 149 NPRR delegates signed a letter to Aquino and raised four issues that make it imperative for government to retain NFA. Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano supports the position of the delegates, along with Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla, Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay and lawmakers from Bayan Muna, Gabriela and ACT and Kabataan party-lists. In their letter, the delegates said while they applaud the President for vowing to apply the full force of the law against those who profited immensely from over-importation and the overpricing of foreign rice, they nevertheless questioned the plan to practically scuttle the NFA. "As articulated by your Budget Secretary, you are also 'devolving' three of the four functions of the NFA, limiting its role to simply be a 'buyer of last resort.' That the NFA's subsidy function be handled by the Department of Social Welfare and Development through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, its palay and rice procurement be turned over to the private sector, and its regulatory function be under the Department of Agriculture," the letter said.
