NFA investigates rice infestation at Iloilo warehouse

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The National Food Authority (NFA) has confirmed that rice stocks stored in its Iloilo warehouse were infested, prompting the agency to issue show-cause orders and launch a formal investigation into what it described as serious lapses in warehouse operations.

In a statement on Thursday, Oct. 16, the NFA acknowledged the issue following allegations that the agency allowed rice stocks in Iloilo and Cagayan to rot due to mismanagement.

The NFA denied these claims, calling them fabricated and malicious, and clarified that no spoiled rice stocks were found in Cagayan.

However, it admitted that quality issues were discovered in the Iloilo warehouse in July 2025, prompting the central office to order a joint inspection involving key departments.

The inspection confirmed infestation inside the storage facilities and found violations of established storage protocols.

“The NFA Management will neither tolerate nor cover for these irregularities,” the agency said in its statement.

An audit report was submitted, and show-cause orders were issued to personnel involved, with administrative proceedings expected to follow.

The NFA also rejected claims that the infestation reflected incompetence by the national leadership, clarifying that procurement and storage operations are handled by local field offices.

“The allegations made on a social media platform that the rotting of stocks is a result of the incompetence of the current NFA administration are unfair and devious,” it added.

Meanwhile, NFA Iloilo Assistant Branch Manager Philip Cesar Rumbaoa admitted that they continue to face storage limitations in procuring palay from local farmers due to full warehouse capacity.

“We are also facing limitations like warehouse space, which is one of our major concerns since our storage is already full,” Rumbaoa said in an interview with reporters in Antique.

To address the issue, NFA Iloilo has leased additional warehouses to expand its storage capacity.

Rumbaoa said they are also considering transferring palay stocks between Antique and Iloilo warehouses to decongest storage and allow continuous procurement from farmers.

“This is for us to create a space here in Antique and accommodate another batch of farmers,” he said.

The buying price of palay in Iloilo and Antique is set at PHP 23 per kilo for clean and dry palay and PHP 17 per kilo for fresh or wet palay.

“The farmers are enjoying and delivering, but then we are limited in buying the wet because it depends on our drying capacity,” he added.

The NFA has implemented a policy limiting its purchase of palay from individual farmers to 100 bags per planting season, or a total of 200 bags per year.

The policy aims to broaden the benefit scope so that more farmers, rather than a few, can access the higher palay buying price set by the agency.