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MANILA - A rice shortage that prompted a state of calamity in Zamboanga City has started to ease, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said Thursday.

This after a shipment of commercial rice from Isabela province and India arrived in the southern city on Wednesday, Salazar told radio DZMM.

"Ito pong situation namin, despite the declaration of state of calamity, unti-unting naibsan with the arrival of these commercial rice," she said.

(Our situation, despite the declaration of a state of calamity, is slowly easing with the arrival of these commercial rice.)

Commercial rice meant for Zamboanga had been diverted to other parts of Mindanao like Jolo, Sulu, which saw a massive fire that engulfed some 3,500 houses last month, Salazar earlier said.

Zamboanga declared a state of calamity on Wednesday as rice prices soared to P50 to P70 per kilo.

Local officials are waiting for clearance to use calamity funds to buy additional rice from Cotabato province, said Salazar.

Some 180,000 sacks of government-subsidized rice will also arrive in Zamboanga City this weekend, said National Food Authority spokesperson Rex Estoperez in a separate DZMM interview.