Pangilinan supports call to probe rice shortage

Senator Francis Pangilinan. INQUIRER.net / CATHY MIRANDA

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan expressed support on Saturday for Senator Cynthia Villar’s call to investigate the alleged rice shortage in the country.

Pangilinan said the consuming public has the right to know the reason behind the sudden drop in supply of National Food Authority (NFA) rice in the country.

“We would like to encourage this para malaman natin (so that we would know): Number one, do we really have to import? Number two, ano ‘yung (what is the) sufficiency level? And number three, ang paliwanag sa atin (the explanation to us) is there is enough commercial rice. But of course we would like to make sure that the inexpensive, affordable NFA rice is also present,” Pangilinan said in a radio interview.

Pangilinan, who used to be the chair of the National Food Authority (NFA) Council as Presidential Adviser on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization, said the government was required to store supply that was enough for 15 days during harvest season while 30 days for lean months.

The senator said during his chairmanship, the NFA was able to reduce the cost of imported rice by $120 per metric ton.