Agri chief Piñol wants task force to assess national rice situation

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol on Tuesday said he is recommending to President Rodrigo R. Duterte the creation of a multi-stakeholder task force to inspect all grains warehouses in the country and prove there is no rice shortage.

"Hopefully, the Task Force will be able to give us an accurate baseline information and a very clear picture of the rice industry in the country," Piñol said in a post on his Facebook page.

"Today, I will write a memorandum to the President recommending the creation of a Task Group ..." Piñol noted. "I will ask the President to empower the Task Group to open and inspect all grains warehouses all over the country, including those suspected to contain smuggled rice," he added.

Piñol envisions a group made up of representatives from the Department of Agriculture, National Food Authority (NFA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

It will also include members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Philippine National Police (PNP).

The group is expected to "prove that there is enough rice in the country" and to "establish the actual rick stock situation" in the country, according to the Cabinet official.

His statement comes on the heels of conflicting reports from NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino and former Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Reina A. Valdez on rice importation that prompted the President to intervene.

Earlier this month, Duterte sacked Valdez for insisting on issuing rice importation permits to the private sector, a move previously denied by Aquino in favor of government-to-government (G2G) transactions.

Valdez had accused Piñol and Aquino of "making it appear there is a shortage of rice" and claimed it was "desperate attempt" to import rice on a G2G basis.

Piñol disagreed with the respective positions of the OCS and NFA that the private sector and the government must import the commodity. Instead, the Cabinet official said that rice must be sourced from local farmers.

Based on visual observation, Piñol had claimed that "with the vigorous growth of rice in almost all rice farming areas of the country this season, the country could enjoy a bumper harvest." — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News