Church group hides rice to avoid mob

MANILA, Philippines - Supply problems of National Food Authority (NFA) rice in Manila have forced the Church's charity arm Caritas Manila to "hide" the commodity, a priest coordinator admitted Tuesday. Father Mar Castillo, a coordinator for Caritas Manila, said the shortage is so alarming that they have to resort to hiding rice supplies before they run out of supply. "We don't display it (rice) anymore just to avoid a mob of buyers," Castillo said in a statement posted Tuesday night on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website. Castillo, vice chairman of the union of Church cooperatives in Caritas, said the move is the only way for them to deliver cheap rice to where they are most needed and to shun pressure from other customers. He said the shortage of rice supply is also one of the reasons why some parishes have some reservations of venturing into rice retailing. According to him, the current weekly NFA rice allocation of 24,000 sacks for the whole Manila archdiocese must be tripled or even more just to cater to the needs of other buyers. Such an allotment, he said, is only enough for their 1,000 "poorest of the poor families" which are their priority consumers. At least 27 out of 84 total parishes have NFA outlets or cooperatives in the archdiocese of Manila. On the other hand, Castillo said the government had already been using Church facilities for distribution of rice to where it is most needed. But due to the insufficient supply, the distribution of rice is made through their Basic Ecclesiastical Communities (BECs) and other Church's lay leaders. He called on the government to increase rice allocation for them to serve more people other than the 1,000 target recipients. Castillo said they would allow each consumer to purchase only up to two kilos a day or 14 kilos of rice a week to accommodate other NFA rice buyers. Last Monday, the government tapped the Church in the distribution of NFA rice to avoid rice hoarders and the selling of NFA-subsidized rice. The agreement includes an assurance from the government to deliver a weekly allocation of at least 50,000 sacks of rice for certified "Bigasan sa Parokya" stores. The pilot area for the implementation of the program would be the dioceses within Metro Manila. - GMANews.TV