Flood-resistant rice. Arroyo admires new variety at IRRI experiment station as Zeigler and Arthur Yap look on.
***
NFA has imported
enough rice: GMA RP can make do with P1.6M tons
instead of 2.2M tons
BY REGINA BENGCO
MALACAÑANG yesterday said the Philippines
has already enough to cover its 10 percent supply gap and that
it is buying more rice only for "buffer stocks."
President Arroyo, in a speech during the
general assembly of the Federation of Philippine Industries,
said the country has concluded contracts with Thailand, Vietnam,
and other Asian countries for 1.2 million metric tons of rice,
"enough to cover the 10 percent differential which is our
production and consumption."
"So don't be alarmed by today's headlines,"
Arroyo said referring to news reports that Thailand, the world
largest rice exporter, is snubbing the Philippine tender on
Monday.
Gloria bares Napocor
reduction
of power selling price to Meralco
BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday said the National
Power Corp. has cut its selling price to Meralco by 59 centavos,
bringing its rate down to P3.52 per kilowatt hour.
Arroyo, speaking before the general assembly
of the Federation of Philippine Industries at the Hotel Intercon
in Makati City, said the reduced rate was a result of an earlier
directive to Napocor to charge Meralco the same low rate of
P4.11 per kwh that it gives to Luzon-based electric
cooperatives.
She issued the directive during the Energy
Summit from January to February after learning that Meralco paid
a generation fee of P6 to P11 per kwh whenever it bought from
Napocor and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) during
peak hours.
HARD to believe, but the International Rice
Research Institute said yesterday that Filipino rice farmers are
more productive than their Thai counterparts, even if Thailand
is the world's largest rice-exporting country.
Dr. Robert Zeigler, IRRI director general,
said Filipino farmers are more productive per hectare than Thai
farmers "and this is not simply political talk from an
international guest."
The Philippines has been hosting the IRRI
since the 1960s.
