PRESIDENT Arroyo has issued an executive order urging large companies to provide for the rice supply needs of their employees through rice production and importation.

At a briefing on Wednesday, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that under Executive Order (EO) 721, dated May 2, 2008, corporations with at least 500 employees and with landholdings suitable for rice production shall be encouraged to engage in rice production within a period deemed desirable by the National Food Authority (NFA) but in “no case less than two years from the effectivity of this order.”

The President said corporations without landholdings but who decide to engage in rice production may lease public agricultural lands, subject to mutual agreement with owners of idle agricultural properties.

Corporations eyeing rice importation for their employees should signify to the NFA their intention to do so, which will be governed by existing laws.

All rice importations undertaken under EO 721 should be coursed through the NFA and “shall be eligible for fiscal privileges within the authority of the NFA to provide.”
EO 721 allows the NFA to charge reasonable fees for services rendered in connection with the rice importation.

Meanwhile, NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro said on Wednesday the Philippines needs 500,000 to 700,000 metric tons of rice to augment its buffer stock for the rest of the year.

Navarro said, in a news briefing in Malacañang, the additional rice tonnage would be sourced locally and through importation.
Asked how much more rice the Philippines needs to buy for its buffer stock, Navarro said: “We are looking at from 5000,000-700,000 more to augment our buffer stocks. The last quarter is our rainy season or our typhoon season so we have to be ready.”
He said the NFA “will aggressively buy locally—not only through importation but we will buy locally from the farmers” and has encouraged the private sector to import on their own. Navarro said that at present, the country has sufficient rice stocks with a 64-day inventory comprised of NFA, commercial and household stocks, which is “50 percent higher compared with last year.”
He said the government has contracted 1.7 million metric tons of imported rice which can “comfortably satisfy our requirements for the lean months of July, August, September” and that additional purchases are for the country’s buffer stock to the end of December.

Palace: No government takeover of Meralco

Malacañang on Wednesday asserted that it has no plans to takeover the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and that efforts being undertaken by the government involving the public-utility company are geared toward reduced electricity cost in the country.

PRESIDENT Arroyo has issued an executive order urging large companies to provide for the rice supply needs of their employees through rice production and importation.

IT is not widely known, but suspected Marcos crony Jose Campos owns two tracts of land in Texas and Colorado, which include an area in the Forth Worth area said to have oil and gas deposits estimated at $100 million.

THE waste and pollution watchdog EcoWaste Coalition on Wednesday welcomed Environment Secretary Lito Atienza’s order to shut down all open dumps in the country.

A VISITING German actor and who is a star of a popular television series in Germany has expressed dismay at the way women and children in conflict with the law are being treated in the Philippines.

THE government on Wednesday announced that Malaysia remains committed in facilitating the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) despite the withdrawal of 29 of its 41 peacekeepers in Mindanao this weekend.

THE Presidential Antismuggling Group (PASG) seized some P150 million worth of imported meat, fish and various aquatic and agricultural products from China in a raid at a cold-storage facility in Navotas City on Wednesday.