BAUKO, Mountain Province – The provincial head of the National Food Authority here assured that the province will have enough supply of government rice in 2009 even as he called on local officials to help stop the diversion of rice supply outside of the province.

NFA provincial manager Celedonio Mendoza gave the assurance during the first out-of-town and joint municipal and provincial Peace and Order Council meeting for the year held Wednesday at the Bauko municipal gym. The peace council meeting presided by governor Maximo Dalog was joined in by barangay officials and some concerned residents.

Mendoza said his office has programmed 280,000 bags of rice supply for the province for 2009 adding that this rice coming from NFA will provide 50 percent of the total annual rice consumption in the province. Of the total rice allocation of the province, Mendoza said 40 percent will be distributed to the municipality of Bauko, which has the biggest population among the 10 towns of the province.

The head of the food agency clarified that the NFA rice are sold either at the highly subsidized price of P18.25 per kilo or the less subsidized  P25 a kilo.  Bene-ficiaries of the P18.25 a kilo are the low income groups or the so-called poor whose names are listed in the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Rice Allocation Ledger while  those who can avail themselves of the P25 per kilo rice are the higher income groups, the NFA head said.

With reports that NFA rice supply are going out of the province, Mendoza sought the assistance of local officials to stop the illegal activities of some NFA rice operators. “Let this rice intended for Mountain Province be consumed in the province,” Mendoza said.

According to Consolacion, the DSWD has received various complaints that some TNOs in Mountain Province are diverting their NFA rice allocations to places like Buguias and Mankayan in Benguet and even Baguio City and selling the same in sacks and at exorbitant prices.