CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)–To capacitate the Regional Bantay Presyo Task Force in strengthening the conduct of price monitoring, the National Food Authority (NFA)-10 provided a technical briefing on rice classification, April 29.
NFA-10 Regional Director John Robert R. Hermano cited ways to determine the milling degree and percentage brokens of rice which is vital in the conduct of price monitoring especially in times of calamities and emergencies.
“It will be recalled that under RA 11203, major provisions of NFA’s mandates as contained in PD No. 4 which created NFA were stripped of the agency’s powers, such as enforcement and regulatory functions. Its roles in supply and price stabilization to control the inflow of rice imports and at the same time stabilize commercial rice prices, were removed,” Hermano said.
As the lead agency under RA 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law, the Department of Agriculture (DA)-10 called for a meeting to strengthen the conduct of price monitoring on rice pursuant to the Price Act as reinforced with the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2020-01 of DA, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Health (DOH) or the Price Freeze under a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines due to the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19.
Members of the enforcement team from Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), and City Price Coordinating Council as represented by its chair, Atty Edgardo Uy attended the technical briefing and meeting.
NFA is the lead agency vested with regulatory power on matters involving grains such as rice and the violations in grains business under Presidential Decree No. 4 before the implementation of RA11203 or Rice Trade Liberalization Law which was signed on February 14, 2019. (NFA10/PIA10)
