AMID skyrocketing prices of the country’s staple in the local market, a government agency entrusted with the country’s buffer stock of rice seemed amenable to selling its supply at a much lower cost – but just to a few sacred cows.
In a statement issued by the Department of Agriculture, Secretary Francis Tiu-Laurel cited the need to launch an investigation following the discovery of what looks more like a collusion between the National Food Authority (NFA) and some traders to whom the agency sold thousands of metric tons of affordable rice at prices disadvantageous to the government.
Laurel particularly cited the NFA’s decision to sell milled rice at P25 a kilo without even considering calling for public bidding if only to ensure that the government gets the best deal.
“We do not brush aside reports of impropriety against officials of the Department of Agriculture, regardless of the source. We also welcome any government agency who may wish to conduct their probe to ferret out the truth,” Laurel said in a statement.
“We are custodians of government funds—monies to be spent for the benefit of Filipinos, especially farmers and fisherfolk. Taxpayers’ money shouldn’t be squandered to line anybody’s pockets,” Laurel added.
Mafia Inside NFA
Farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) echoed Laurel’s radical call for an investigation, even as the group insisted that a formidable syndicate referred to as the Mafia operates inside the NFA.
“This (controversy) erupted there is still a mafia inside. The Department of Agriculture should determine if this is new or still the old one,” SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet said in the Philippine Star.
“If this is true, this means that officials were using the agency to earn money. It does not even reflect on the retail prices. Somebody is benefiting from this, meaning, the reported mafia inside the NFA is still existing so there is a need to finally unmask these (individuals),” Cainglet added.
The NFA has admitted having sold the rice stocks at P25 per kilo when these were purchased, in the form of palay (unmilled rice) at P23 per kilogram.
Corrupt NFA Officials
Laurel categorically accused “some NFA officials of being too preoccupied in enriching their pockets,” for which he united the need to slap government officials and greedy traders with the harshest punishment for making profits at the expense of farmers – and the Filipino consumers.
In the meantime, the DA chief urged the public to allow the panel to review documents and hold interviews to establish the facts on the supposed sale of NFA rice stocks to unidentified traders without the usual bidding process
Laurel however did not provide more information about the transactions nor identify the officials investigating the claim, but he clarified that the agency is bent on establishing facts and determining irregularities.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said that NFA officials are in a blame game against each other –
“Actually, there’s been a lot of finger-pointing inside and outside the NFA, so the secretary himself announced the investigation to bring out the truth.”
NFA Insists Legality
In a statement farmed out to the media, NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco explained that the agency is allowed to dispose of aging stocks up to 10 percent lower than the mandated price (floor price of P22.50 per kilo up to the maximum mandated ceiling price of P25 per kg) as well as damaged stocks for at least P6.50 per kilo.
“The NFA Council allows the NFA management to dispose of aging stocks up to 10 percent lower than the mandated price and the damaged stocks,” the NFA statement reads even as the agency boasted of “responsibly disposing of its rice stocks to government accounts by stretching to maximum shelf-life, minimizing the sale of residual volume to other accounts by implementing stricter guidelines and safeguards.”
According to the NFA, the agency must keep and dispose of 99.9 percent of stocks in good and consumable condition.
“The rice we are selling are all sold at the mandated selling price of P25 per kilo, although aging stocks need to be re-milled before they can be released to the consumers,” it said.
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