National Food Authority (NFA) Spokesperson and Region 3 Director Rex Estoperez admits, NFA rice is still not available in public markets and regular stores.
He explains, this is because the rice supply of the agency has been sent to calamity and conflict areas like Albay and Marawi City.
He, however, refutes speculation that there exists a nationwide rice shortage.
Estoperez says, commercial rice can still be bought from regular outlets.
He only laments, the poorest of the poor will have to buy commercial rice during this period.
The NFA used to distribute 64,000 bags of rice daily to retailers.
These days, the volume of distribution all over the country has decreased to 34,000 bags a day.
The NFA is required to keep a buffer stock that should last for 15 days.
This is equivalent to a total supply of 400,000 metric tons of rice in NFA warehouses at any given time.
The buffer stock is meant to stabilize the price of commercial rice in the market.
NFA rice costs about P 27 to P 32 per kilo while commercial rice sells at a minimum of P 36 per kilo.