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Monday, April 10, 2017
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President Rodrigo Duterte (center) and Agriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol (rightmost) check the quality of the hybrid rice harvested during the Grand Harvest Festival at the Nagkakaisang Magsasaka Agricultural Primary Multipurpose Cooperative Compound in Talavera, Nueva Ecija on Wednesay. PCOO
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MANILA – Dismissed undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Reina Valdez of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) on Saturday accused Agriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol and National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jason Aquino of “making it appear there is a shortage of rice.”
“On their desperate attempt to convince the President to resort to G2G (government-to-government) rice importation, the Agriculture secretary who has been meddling on the functions and affairs of the OCS, and the NFA administrator have made it appear as if there is a shortage of rice in the country, causing alarm and possible upward movement in the prices of commercial rice,” Valdez said in a statement.
She added: “Food security is a matter of national security, and they are manipulating this just so they could justify their greed for money, a condemnable act to its highest degree.”
Valdez said in her statement that Aquino should be held liable over the issue of rice importation.
President Rodrigo Duterte had announced that he fired an undersecretary for insisting on allowing a rice importation permit.
While Duterte did not name the official, Piñol confirmed that it was Valdez who was sacked by the President.
“It’s over the issue of rice importation. She had a conflict with National Food Authority administrator Jason Aquino,” Piñol said.
Valdez said Aquino is not pro-Filipino farmers and accused him of being an advocate for “foreign farmers.”
“Yes, Mr. Aquino is a farmer advocate, only that he is referring to foreign farmers, for a proposed G2G undertaking is poised to benefit the foreign farmers to the detriment of our local farmers,” she said.
Valdez also said the Council noticed that the NFA management has been using an “obsolete formula” to determine the rice consumption per capita. (GMA News)
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