IT’S certainly one for Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!”

Seven of the country’s rice-producing provinces are the same provinces with large numbers of farmers’ cooperatives that are importing the Filipino people’s main staple food.

No less than Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairperson of the influential Senate committee on agriculture, described the situation as funny and

"The most pressing question now is, are these farmers' cooperatives/associations actually capable by themselves to import such large number of rice into the country, or is there a dummy arrangement behind the scenes?"