Photo Release

Rice supply: Senator Cynthia Villar (2nd, left), chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, took to task National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jason Aquino for releasing a press statement about the country’s rice shortage, which she said caused the public to panic. She said the NFA should have clarified that the rice shortage only pertained to NFA stocks and not the country’s rice supply. The NFA is required to have a 15-day buffer stock at any given time and 30-day buffer stock during lean seasons, from July to September. Also in photo are (from left) Senators Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, and Risa Hontiveros. (PRIB Photo by Alex Nuevaespaña/AYA/27 February 2018)