Duterte orders police to arrest sellers of synthetic rice

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has ordered police to arrest anyone selling synthetic rice and scour the city’s warehouses for any stock of the now controversial product.

“The mayor is fuming (mad) because it was Davao City, where the fake rice was first detected. The mayor said it was a form of economic sabotage,” said Davao City police director Vicente Danao Jr.

He said Duterte had also ordered the city police to inspect grains warehouses in the city in coordination with the National Food Authority (NFA).

Reports said the synthetic rice is made of potatoes, sweet potatoes and plastic resin shaped into grains. Materials used to make pipes and cables are also said to be among the synthetic rice’s ingredients.

The NFA in Eastern Visayas has intensified the monitoring of rice outlets in the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte and Biliran to prevent the entry of synthetic rice.

Henry Tristeza, NFA assistant director for Eastern Visayas, asked rice vendors to report immediately to authorities any attempt to bring in or sell synthetic rice.

Tristeza, however, admitted that he didn’t know how to spot the difference between synthetic and genuine rice.

“But if it’s fake rice, then, it should be confiscated as this will pose danger to our health,” he said.

Tristeza said the NFA monitoring started on Wednesday and no one had been found selling fake rice.

In North Cotabato, rice traders sought to give assurance that rice being sold in the province is safe and not fake.

Carmelito Bacus, president of the Grains Retailer Confederation (Grecon) in North Cotabato, said his group checked the stocks of its members after hearing the report about the fake rice.

“We can assure our clients that our grains are still pure and no fake rice is being sold in our area,” Bacus said.

Grecon normally buys stocks in bulk on behalf of its members but some members also have separate suppliers.

Bacus said to prevent the entry of fake grains, each Grecon member was asked to closely inspect the stocks that they buy.

“They should ask for samples first to determine the quality of rice each time they buy,” he said.

Bacus said Grecon members had been reminded to inform the group if they needed to buy rice stocks and not immediately deal with suppliers that they are not familiar with.

He also asked consumers to help Grecon monitor retailers to prevent the entry of fake rice and said Grecon would not hesitate to punish an erring member with the help of the NFA.

But Joseph Evangelista, mayor of Kidapawan City, said he also ordered the local price monitoring council to separately monitor rice retailers.

In Bansalan, Davao del Sur, NFA representatives said they found no fake rice during an inspection of outlets in the town.

Virgilio Alerta, NFA Davao del Sur manager, said the inspection came after a consumer from Davao City claimed she had cooked fake rice that came from Bansalan. Orlando Dinoy, Williamor Magbanua, Judy Quiros and Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao and Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas