Rice trader says she’s legit

“I AM a legal rice trader.”

So said Marivic Ventura, a rice trader in La Guerta, Cebu City, after her name was included in the list of eight rice traders published in a national broad sheet that reported about the importation of rice, which allegedly is legalized smuggling.

The National Food Authority (NFA) in Central Visayas also defended the eight Cebuano rice traders who participated in the private sector-financed (PSF) importation program of the agency from 2008 to 2010.

Lucy Rosales, NFA 7 public information officer said, these eight names were bona fide and legal rice traders.

Rosales was referring to the eight names of rice traders mentioned in the report about the participation of rice traders in the importation through the PSF program, but reportedly resulted to the losses of the government.

The report said 18 traders, including eight from Cebu, were allowed to purchase a total of 200,000 MT through the agency last year.

The Cebu importers were identified as Radegonda Vallejo, Chevy Bacaltos, Edisa Cabuenas, Jugy Obando, Jerome Tan, Othoniel Acquiatan, Marivic Ventura and Glenn Ernesto Pacana.

The report also described the process of the importation as virtual legalization of rice smuggling.

Rosales said that these eight importers participated in the bidding in the 2009-2010 importation of the PSF program.

But Rosales said the eight were not fictitious names but real rice traders who had complied with all the requirements./Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan