NFA rice smell moldy, not fit for consumption, say Zambo villagers

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Local residents have complained of receiving rice with moldy smell from their village officials and said even dogs would not eat the grains.

“The rice was dirty, smelly and all those who were given rice did not even cook it. I washed it thoroughly and cooked and my even my dog would not touch it,” one old man said in describing the relief aid he got from his village leaders.

Neighbors claimed the rice was probably from the stocks of the National Food Authority or NFA. “No, we did not eat the rice. We just threw it away. The moment we opened the blue sack containing the rice we immediately noticed the smell. It was horrible. All of us who received the rice just disposed it,” said one store owner.

Another said the commercial rice provided by the Zamboanga City government is far better than what they received from village officials. “We got relief assistance - good rice quality, canned goods and noodles, and vitamins – twice already from the local government, but this one (rice assistance) from our village officials was not even fit for human consumption. We have complained about this to our village officials, but we got no reply from them,” said another man.

The rice assistance from DSWD-NFA that residents claim are not fit for human consumption. (Zamboanga Post)

The sack of rice villagers received had markings of the DSWD and NFA with a production date of 2018. Village officials have also been receiving rice and food donations from various groups and it was not immediately known whether what residents received came from donors. 

The NFA said some village officials and other groups were buying rice from its warehouse at P1,250 per a bag of 50 kilos, adding, it also purchases stocks of rice from local farmers since commercial traders are now allowed to import rice from other countries.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has ordered village leaders to provide relief assistance to their constituents and this is on top of the food aid distributed by the local government. However, many residents said they did not get anything, from their village leaders and depend only on the relief assistance from the local government.

Just recently, Mayor Beng Climaco said the local government will ask the City Council for additional budget to be able to feed more residents affected by the strict enhanced community quarantine here due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. She said the proposed budget will be used to augment the second wave of allocation of relief assistance - one sack of 25-kilo rice - to all households. And one-time financial assistance worth P1,000 for their water and electricity bills.

“The proposed budget to augment present allocation of welfare goods to cover for the second wave of assistance which will provide this time, all households with 1 sack of rice (25 kilos) and one-time utility assistance in the amount of P500 for water bills and another P500 for electricity bills for every residential consumer. This is to ensure the welfare and well-being of every Zamboangueño family while we remain committed in the fight against Covid-19,” Climaco, who heads the local task force on Covid-19, said.

Climaco did not say how much is the local government proposing for its additional budget, but this was also recommended by the task force and other stakeholders. The first wave of relief assistance by the local government comprising of commercial rice, grocery items and vitamins benefited a total of 178,615 households in all 98 villages.

The distribution of food packs was on top of the P5,000 emergency cash assistance received by each family from the DSWD's cash emergency assistance called Special Amelioration Program in collaboration with the local government that targeted the poorest of the poor. (Zamboanga Post)

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