Consumers are complaining that they are being forced to buy the expensive variety of NFA rice, before they can buy the cheaper NFA variety.
This was done by some retailers of Bigasan ng Bayan outlets in Metro Cebu.
For consumers to buy a kilo of the cheaper P27 per kilo NFA rice, they should first buy the P32 per kilo variety.
“I spend P118 for the rice, and P2 for the plastic bag. It’s costly for me since I only earn a little as habal-habal driver. But I don’t have a choice, NFA rice remains the cheapest in the market. But if I were to choose, I’d buy only the P27 per kilo,” said Toto Fernandez, one of the consumers lining up in front of the Bigasan ng Bayan outlet in a market in barangay Basak, Mandaue City.
The National Food Authority in Central Visayas (NFA-7) said they can only investigate and warn retailers for not allowing consumers to choose the variety of rice they want to buy or for overpricing their rice products.
In a worse case scenario, the NFA can only make a policy from these complaints with the end-result of suspending the allocation of NFA rice to these kind of retailers of Bigasan ng Bayan outlets, said Lucy Rosales, NFA-7 public information officer, yesterday.
Rosales’ reaction came after receiving reports that some outlets in Consolacion town, barangay Basak, Mandaue City and in Metro Cebu are forcing the consumers to buy the higher priced and lower priced pairing of the NFA rice.
Celsa Bernales, the retailer, said that they have no choice. They are forced to take the P32 per kilo, so they have to sell it by tying them with the P27 per kilo.
Bernales was referring to the Bigasan ng Bayan outlet allocations from the NFA which are 32 bags of NFA rice.
Half of the bags are those with only 15 percent broken rice and these are the P32 per kilo variety.
Bigasan ng Bayan outlets outside major markets only have an allocation of 22 bags.
“We have this 15 percent broken rice to accommodate the clamor of the public to have a good quality NFA rice, which is comparable to those commercial rice sold at P43 per kilo,” Rosalessaid.
With this, some retailers are passing the burden on the consumers.
Rosales said they do not have any policy about how the retailers should sell their NFA rice, except for following the imposed retail prices which are P27 and P32.
“But it is a social responsibility of retailers to let their consumers choose freely. Though our prices are the lowest in the market, it is still not right to impose to consumers that in order for them to buy the cheaper variety they need to buy the other variety which is higher in price,” said Rosales.
For now, NFA-7 can only give a warning to the retailers about the complaint.
Rosales however warned the retailers that if the complaints continue then they will be forced to report these to the head office and have it included in the NFA policies.
She said a possible result for this may be the suspension of allocation to these retailers.
She also said that the NFA-7 continues to monitor overpricing of Bigasan ng Bayan outlets.
As of June, they have already suspended the allocation of retailers in the towns of Aloguinsan, Medellin, and Consolacion for overpricing.