SORSOGON CITY -- Two Bicolano legislators expressed alarm over the continued shortage of rice in the Bicol region amidst the calamities that hit the region in the past weeks.

        Sen. Francis Escudero and Cong. Jose Solis said the government should look into the situation and do something to remedy the situation before it creates panic among the consumers.

        Escudero said the government should not dismiss reports of rice shortage in Bicol but should instead provide interventions to mitigate the situation as residents of the disaster-stricken province begin to complain of inadequate supply of rice and of the abrupt soaring of prices wherever rice is available.

        Reports from the provinces of Sorsogon and Albay said government rice from National Food Authority (NFA) is getting scarce in public markets and while supply is made erratically available, prices have gone up from the prevailing market price of P18.25 per kilo to as high as P21-27 per kilo.

        Solis stressed that the NFA should release sufficient supply of rice in the market to stabilize the price of commercial rice especially during times of calamities to avoid unwarranted price increases.

        The solon said that reports reaching his office showed that in some areas which were inaccessible to commercial transportation at the height of the flash floods that hit the region prices reached as much as P32 per kilo of low grade rice.

        He said that he tried to purchase rice from the NFA office here for distribution to victims of calamities but was granted only 50 bags out of the 500 bags that he requested.

        Solis stressed that based on reports by the Department of Agriculture, the government has enough supply of rice that could be released in times of calamities.

        “So where are these rice supplies now?” he asked.

        Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal also confirmed receiving reports that there is indeed rice shortage in the Bicol Region.

        Albay Governor Joey Salceda also warned the local executives of price spikes and urged them to allocate social services funds to counter this and increase food production in their localities.

        “Rice is a sensitive matter cutting across all sectors of the society as it is the major daily staple of every Filipino family. Rice security spells food security for every Filipino, if you take that away from them, you starve millions of them,” Escudero said in a press statement.

        He urged the government, particularly the National Food Authority, to beef up its stocking mechanism in the Bicol region to ensure better supply of rice in six months to one year so that when circumstances like these happen, the commodity can be made readily available to the consumers.

        Escudero added that the NFA should have a better forecasting mechanism of the supply situation in disaster prone areas like Bicol to prepare contingency measures. This way, he said, consumers are not only ensured of a stabilized price but also of adequate supply.

        He said he was puzzled why Bicol is running out of supply when NFA has a policy of keeping buffer stocks for 90-day period.

        Even if NFA says that supply is immediately depleted because of the successive disasters that hit the place, it becomes even more imperative that NFA should strengthen its stocking system in concerned areas like Bicol, he added.

        The government already knows what areas are always hit by natural calamities, including those places where people are displaced by armed conflicts. These areas always need the protection of the NFA and the government as a whole in terms of food security in times of disasters and crisis, Escudero explained.

        The senator said the rice shortage in Bicol could also happen in other parts of the country if the government would continue to ignore the concerns of the residents.

        Meanwhile, Solis said he would talk with the NFA administrator to inform him of the actual situation in the province saying the administrator might not be getting the true information from the NFA field offices.

        The association of Tindahan Natin operators in the province of Sorsogon has petitioned the NFA office here to grant them additional five bags each as the present supply of NFA rice in the market is barely enough to meet the demands of the consumers.

        They stressed that only those who belong to the low-income bracket were patronizing NFA rice as they had to queue up for hours just so they could buy cheap government rice.

        Presently, each outlet is being given only five bags from the original twenty-five bags being released to them every week.