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NFA releases rice for 'Pedring' relief ops


The National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday released 10,425 bags of rice to local government units (LGUs) for relief operations in the aftermath of Typhoon Pedring. In a statement, NFA administrator Angelito Banayo said the rice bags were issued mostly to Regions 2, 3 and 5. Over 6,150 bags were given to Albay, 500 bags to Camarines Norte, 45 to Catanduanes and 10 to Camarines Sur in Region V. The Bulacan Office of the Governor in Region 3, meanwhile, issued 1,900 bags of rice to the towns of Hagonoy, Paombong and Rafael. Tarlac and Bataan have issued 50 bags of rice each to San Manuel and Pilar towns. In Region 2, about 550 bags were given to the local government of Isabela and 300 to Cagayan. Under a memorandum of agreement between the LGUs and other government agencies charged with post-“Pedring" relief operations, rice requests for relief operations were paid in cash or through credit. Banayo said he is in constant communication with the NFA’s regional directors who are assessing the damage caused by “Pedring" against government’s rice inventory. Initial estimates have placed the damages at P5 million. Rice inventory As of Wednesday, only the warehouses in the National Capital Region have estimated damages to rice stocks. Metro Food Complex Warehouse No. 5 in Malanday, Valenzuela, the NFA’s North District Office, has reported a damage of 1,500 rice bags after parts of the warehouse roofing blew off at the height of Typhoon Pedring. The same thing happened to the Kingswood warehouse in Caloocan, where 200 bags of rice were damaged. To update the NFA’s tally on the damage caused by “Pedring," Banayo said the NFA keeps a 24-hour operation in its Central Office and Field Office Operation Center where requests for relief assistance are received. As of the third week of September, the country’s overall food security inventory was at 2.5 million metric tons (MT), equivalent to 75 days of consumption. The estimated domestic daily requirement is at 34,000 MT. Of the total inventory, 1.3 million MT are in NFA warehouses while household and commercial warehouses hold 638,700 MT and 596,700 MT, respectively. Government’s inventory is over 52 percent of the country’s total rice stock while household and commercial stock account for 25 percent and 23 percent, respectively. — BC/VS, GMA News

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