Fake rice in Lapu-Lapu City?

CEBU, Philippines - A 61-year-old woman from Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City was cooking breakfast when she noticed that the rice she cooked appeared like melted diaper cotton, leading her to conclude it was fake.

Delia Delgado said she noticed something unusual while boiling the rice so she stirred it with a ladle.

“Pagkandos-kandos nako nagtuto man, dili na siya lugaw tan-awon, mura’g diaper nga nabasa,” she said.

Upon learning of the incident, a National Food Authority-7 team of investigators got a sample of the allegedly fake rice.

NFA-7 Information Officer Olma Marie Bayno said that the samples will be shipped to their head office today for laboratory testing.

"It’s our head office that will determine if the rice is fake or not. Kami diri sa region, we cannot conclusively say if fake ba na ang rice or dili," she said.

So far, based on the reported fake rice in other parts of the country, these were tested and found out to be authentic rice.

The Grains Retailers Association of the Philippines has likewise denied the existence of fake rice, claiming it is nothing but fake news.

Delgado said the rice came from the second sack of rice she bought from a local market for P1,780.

It was her favorite kind of rice, Delgado said, but she felt disappointed now that it appears her money got wasted on fake rice.

“Tan-awon nimo nindot gyud siya nga bugas di gyud nimo mailhan nga fake siya,” she said.

She claimed that the “fake” rice, when dry, looked like white grains of plastic foam that easily get blown by the wind.

“Mangapalid sila sa hangin…’nya mura’g nagligid-ligid,” she said when she brought the matter to a local radio station at noon yesterday.

Delgado was convinced she bought fake rice, and felt glad that the NFA took immediate action.

She warned the public to be meticulous in choosing rice to avoid the incident she had experienced.

“Ako lang magbantay sila sunod sa pagpili og bugas,” she said.

Meanwhile, on the alleged fake rice in Santa Fe town in Bantayan island, the Cebu provincial government said the rice was not fake, following a test by the Provincial Agriculturist’s Office.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said talks circulating about the alleged fake rice are all false.

Magpale said Roldan H. Saragena, head of the Provincial Agriculturist’s Office, took a spoonful of rice samples and placed them on top of a lighted candle.

“Ingun ni Roldan og naa gyud toy plastic, mo-melt ang plastic. Pero ang nahitabo, nasunog mura gyod og baho og dukot…. Niingon ang agriculturist nato nga convinced sila nga it's real rice," she said.

She added that she will wait for the official results from Saragena’s office. She is also banking on a separate test by the Department of Agriculture-7. — Christell Fatima M. Tudtud and Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon (FREEMAN)