Digos city traders now selling rice at P39/kilo

By Eldie S. Aguirre
Correspondent .

Two commercial rice traders here have responded to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte to lower the selling price of some rice variety to make it affordable to poor consumers.

Chuchi Balayon,  the National Food Authority (NFA) provincial manager for Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental said Henry Sorongon,  and Yolanda Crispino, both known big-time commercial rice millers here agreed to rally behind Duterte’s campaign to provide affordable rice to the public while waiting for the arrival of the imported rice through the NFA.

Both commercial millers have rice retail outlets inside the public market in Digos City where the repriced rice grains are sold at P39 per kilo.

Balayon said Sorongon allocated at least 12 bags of P50 kilograms per day where interested parties could buy a maximum of 3 kilos per costumer, while Crispino limits 2 kilos per buyer giving equal chance to poor consumers to avail of the said opportunity.

The NFA manager said the program is dubbed as “Tulong sa Bayan” emulating what the Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines (GRECON) that initiated the move to support the Duterte administration in providing affordable commercial rice to the public after stocks from all warehouses of NFA was drained to the bottom.

“We are still looking for more participants to this program so that people living outside Digos City will also guven the chance to buy affordable rice. in behalf of the NFA,  I am expressing my gratitude to the benevolence of Sorongon and Crispino in giving positive action to our request for assistance to the program, “ Balayon said.