Over rice mess: Sta. Fe council to grill 4Ps officers

CEBU, Philippines - Personnel in charge of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program are set to face the Santa Fe town council this afternoon to shed light on the alleged fake rice sold to 4Ps beneficiaries.

The council will find out if there was truth to allegations that 4Ps recipients were made to buy rice using the cash they received through the program, according to Councilor Jayson Repaso.

“Why were the beneficiaries denied of their freedom to choose cheap, quality, and genuine rice using the money the government has given them, just like what’s being practiced in other towns?” Repaso told The FREEMAN in Cebuano.

Repaso was also hoping that the Office of the Ombudsman will look into the report.

Each 4Ps beneficiary reportedly received the amount of P1,200, but were told to buy rice at P48 per kilo at a designated supplier. The scheme was brought into the open when a netizen posted on Facebook that she had bought what she described was “fake rice in Sta. Fe.”

However, this claim has since been discredited by the municipal government, as well as by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Food Authority.

NFA-7 information officer Olma Marie Bayno said that based on physical evidence alone, the reported fake rice in Sta. Fe did not qualify as fake rice.

"Ang fake rice man gud kung imoha nang kilisan kay manglutaw na. Unya kadto sa Sta. Fe kay ang ilang reklamo kay naglain man daw ilang tiyan paghuman nila og kaon. So kung fake rice to, di gyud unta to maluto," said Bayno.

She said a kilo of the same rice was sent to NFA’s head office in Manila on Friday for further analysis.

"We expect the results to come out more than a week pa gyud," said Bayno.

In her video post, the netizen earlier complained that her two children experienced an upset stomach after eating the alleged fake rice.

Sta. Fe Mayor Jose Esgana has claimed that such reports have tainted the image of the town and affected it economically.

Esgana is eyeing to file charges against the person who posted the video.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale is backing the idea.

Magpale said that while she was not taking sides, a case against the netizen will teach her a lesson for supposedly spreading false information on the social media.

“Okay lang pud na para matagam ng mga Facebook (user) bitaw, kanang mag-upload og wrong information,” Magpale said.

“Ang ako lang obligasyon ngadto sa katawhan (is) to come out with a laboratory analysis para once and for all, we will put a closure to the issue,” she added.

The Grains Retailers Association of the Philippines earlier said there is no fake rice, only “fake news being spread by unscrupulous individuals.”

NFA administrator Jason Aquino also separately denied the existence of fake rice in the country. — Gregg M. Rubio, Christell Fatima M. Tudtud, and Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon (FREEMAN)