VIRAC, Catanduanes -- The National Food Authority provincial office has indefinitely suspended the allocations of five accredited rice retailers here pending investigation for alleged diversion and other violations, an official said.

In a phone interview, NFA provincial manager Oscar S.G. Tubalinal told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that suspension notices were sent to the five retailers, all of them based at the Virac Public Market, last week.

He disclosed that the NFA’s surveillance of withdrawals from the grains warehouse in Virac by accredited retailers to ensure that the cheap government rice would not be diverted for other purposes led to the arbitrary suspension.

Numerous reports and text messages flooded the NFA hotline on the alleged diversion, re-bagging, wholesaling and overpricing of NFA rice in the province in violation of Presidential Decree No. 4, Tubalinal said.

He added that the suspension of rice allocations was likewise in compliance with the order of NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro.

He said he had instructed Jose Suarez, senior enforcement and investigation officer, to conduct a thorough investigation or fact-finding on the alleged violations so that further action could be dispensed properly and, if warranted, administrative cases filed against the erring businessmen without prejudice to elevating the same to the proper courts.

One of the suspended retailers, however, protested the NFA’s move, saying they were not informed about their alleged violations when they received their notices.

Many other rice retailers are likewise facing administrative sanctions due to the huge volume of tips on alleged violations received by the office, NFA officials said.

In a separate but complementary move, the NFA provincial office has undertaken the delivery of all rice allocations to the business establishments of the rice retailers, who would be paying for the service at the existing actual hauling rate.

The retailers are likewise required to submit a certification, to be issued by the barangay (village) chairman of the place where their stores are located, attesting that they are selling NFA rice at P18.25 per kilo.

“No certification, no subsequent allocation and delivery,” Tubalinal said in his directive which was intended to verify whether the subsidized government rice would indeed be sold at the required rate.

The direct delivery will also monitor whether the retailers, who procure the NFA rice at P16.75 per kilo, are putting price tags on the NFA rice, Tubalinal said.

He added that his office was coordinating with local government units, particularly in northern towns at considerable distance from the Virac warehouse, for the use of LGU trucks to haul rice, with the cost of fuel to be shouldered by retailers.

The NFA order, however, kept mum on how the rice retailers would be able to recover the cost of hauling their allocations, ranging from P7 per bag in Virac to as much as P50 per bag in Gigmoto.

Without said cost, each retailer is supposed to earn P62.50 per bag at the selling price of P18.25 per kilo.

The escorted delivery system has resulted in a reduction in rice releases and put a stop to the practice of unscrupulous retailers who would use signed authorizations of other retailers out of business in getting the allocations in return for a fee.

The NFA’s rolling store operation, in which NFA rice is sold directly to the public at 5 kilos per person, is still being implemented to address the lack of supply in certain areas.

However, some buyers have used other persons to buy more than their allocation, with the rice resold at a profit.