Commercial rice with ‘foul smell’ came from old stocks of traders —stakeholder

A rice industry stakeholder on Tuesday said the supposed "low quality" commercial rice priced at P39 in the market are the "old stocks" of rice traders.

"Naniniwala siguro ako meron pa niyan, kasi per survey at tanong ko sa mga retailers, meron pang naiwan na mga old stocks doon sa mga traders, 'yung nagsu-supply sa kanila. Old stocks ho ito," Grains Retailers' Confederation of the Philippines (GRECON) national president James Magbanua said in an interview on News To Go.

"May amoy. Lahat ng bigas 'pag nagtagal aamoy 'yan. Kahit dalawa o tatlong buwan lang, 'pag more than four months dapat i-reprocess na," Magbanua added.

This came after some consumers refused to purchase the cheaper commercial rice due to its low quality and foul smell.

"Kahit mahirap ako, hindi ko yata matanggap na kainin 'yan. Nag-try na ba ako bumili pero 'di ko talaga ano. Kahit mga apo ko 'di nila makain. Wala talagang lasa at buhaghag na 'di mo maintindihan," said buyer Julie Salmingo.

Retailer Leonida De Guzman in Quezon City said they bought the commercial rice from a rice miller in Bulacan.

"Tingnan mo naman hitsura ng bigas, kasi pagbaba mo pa lang sa bigas maamoy na sa sako. May amoy siya saka maraming palay-palay. May bibili man sa amin, pagkain ng aso namin... ginaganon kami," De Guzman said in a separate report on News To Go by Victoria Tulad.

De Guzman said their livelihood was affected due to the supposed low quality of the said rice.

"May katumalan po. 'Di katulad noon na mabilis ang bigas," she said.

In a separate interview on Balitanghali, Mel Coronel, president of the Rice Millers Association in Nueva Ecija, insisted that the rice which they are selling to the market are "newly-harvested."

"Sa amin puro bagong ani po 'yan, bagong harvest. Palagay ko, 'di po siguro mangayayari na magkakaroon ng amoy dahil bagong harvest po 'yan eh," Coronel said.

"Siguro hindi dapat magkaroon ng problema, ang binebenta po namin puro newly-harvest po, kami nagbebenta rin ng commercial sa market so far wala naman problema po. Sa ngayon po kasi hindi ko po alam pa'no isosolve po 'yan dahil nasa market po 'yan eh," he added.

P39/kilo rice

Meanwhile, Magbanua assured the public that "newly-milled" rice priced at P39 would be available to the market starting April 19.

"Iba naman ho itong commitment namin. Nu'ng tinawag kami ng Presidente, kaming mga grupo ng traders, nai-promise ho namin na since nawala 'yung NFA (National Food Authority) rice, 'yung traders from Isabela, Nueva Ecija to Bulacan and other nearby provinces, susuporta sa gobyerno by giving commercial rice na mababa ang presyo," Magbanua said.

"Ito buo, newly-milled. Ngayong araw nag-start na mag-open. Pero ang commitment namin, the whole program... implementation of this is April 19. Lahat ng tindahan pwedeng makikita itong klase ng bigas at P39," he added.

Rice traders and millers are set to allocate at least 700,000 sacks of rice to replenish the depleted NFA stocks. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KG, GMA News