Piñol: I never promoted eating 'bukbok' rice, I just wanted to prevent waste

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Tuesday said he never promoted eating rice infested with weevil or bukbok, telling the Senate all he did was advocate to prevent wastage.

Piñol made the comments as he was grilled by Senator Risa Hontiveros during a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of the agency.

"I was only involved in that bukbok saga simply because I try to explain, meron po kasi akong narinig na suggestions na itapon na lang daw at ipakain sa hayop... ang sabi ko naman, actually anak ako ng mahirap eh and normal naman 'yung magkaroon ng bukbok ang bigas kapag di mo natabunan ng maigi," Piñol said.

"I was misinterpreted of promoting of eating with bukbok, which is not true. I only say na wag itapon, sayang..." he added.

Hontiveros was questioning officials over the discovery of imported rice infested with weevil.

"Bakit po tayo umabot sa ganitong kalagayan? Bakit kailangan magtiis ng mamamayan sa bukbok na bigas?" Hontiveros asked.

"Bakit imbes na itaas ang kalidad ng pagkain sa bansa ay tila pinipilit tayo na masanay sa mababang uri?" the senator added.

The senator urged the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct a thorough inspection of the weevil-infested rice, noting that the government must ensure that the public's health will not be put at risk.

"Secretary Duque said that the weevil-infested rice poses no harm to consumers unless the pest has massively infected the rice supply. But what constitutes a massive infestation? How infected is our rice supply?" Hontiveros said.

"What kind of weevils infested our rice supply? Are they home grown or did they come from where the imported rice was sourced? What was the fumigation method used and does it satisfy health standards? These are some of the questions we hope that the DOH, through an official and comprehensive inspection, can help us answer," Hontiveros added.

Reports of bukbok or weevil emerged after the NFA had discovered the infestation of bukbok or weevils on thousands of bags of imported rice at the Subic and Albay ports. —JST, GMA News