‘Repacked’ NFA rice seized at trader’s house

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Authorities seized sacks of National Food Authority  (NFA) rice, believed to have been repacked as commercial rice, at a rice trader’s house in Jaro district Monday night.

The raiding team from the Jaro police seized at least 55 sacks of rice from the house of Nemia Masuecos in Landheights Subdivision.

Seventeen of the sacks were marked “NFA” while the rest were labeled as commercial rice.

Rolino Lamojer of NFA-Iloilo said Masuecos is a licensed NFA retailer. He confirmed that 50 sacks of NFA rice were released to Masueco’s son a few days before the raid.

Jaro police chief Senior Inspector Herbert Ballego, however, said the operation on Masuecos’ house was not a raid.

“We received an information about the alleged re-bagging of NFA rice and we just inspected the house for verification,” Ballego said.

He said no one was caught repacking NFA rice into commercial sacks.

A caretaker was alone when the police visited the house.

“We could not make any arrest. It’s for the NFA to confirm whether the rice in commercially labeled sacks are government-subsidized rice,” Ballego added.

Last month, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation raided a warehouse in Leganes town and seized 1,047 sacks of repacked NFA rice.