MANILA – Transparency and accountability must be the “cornerstone” of all the actions of the National Food Authority (NFA), Sen. Leila de Lima stressed.
The senator is pushing for a legislative inquiry that will look into alleged anomalies in the NFA’s importation and distribution of rice.
De Lima said the investigation will ensure the NFA “strictly implements mechanisms and policies that are safeguarded against corruption.”
The agency is mandated to “uphold fair and transparent procurement procedures while maintaining buffet stock requirements,” said the senator.
“Rice importation must be done through a cost-efficient, legitimate scheme that puts public welfare at its forefront and ensures accountability from implementers,” she said in Senate Resolution 720.
“Policies and mechanisms that are potentially inimical to public interest must be looked into,” she added.
It has been reported that the NFA’s rice distribution stock has been wiped out while a nationwide inspection exposed that there was a shortage of NFA rice in the market.
De Lima noted that the Philippines is primarily an agricultural country and has rice as staple food.
“It is an affront to those working in the agricultural sector, especially the farmers, to condone smuggling of agricultural produce and practices detrimental to their economy,” she said.
In a confidential memo submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. accused NFA chief Jason Aquino of selling 10.4 million kilograms of NFA rice meant for typhoon-prone Eastern Visayas for P235 million without approval of the NFA Council in 2017, de Lima claimed.
“It is contrary to the mandate of the NFA to divert buffer stock of Eastern Visayas for sale to rice traders of Region 3, the rice granary of the country, in the middle of the lean season, leaving Eastern Visayas with a day’s worth of rice buffer stock,” she said.
And while Section 1 of Executive Order No. 1, series of 2016 gave the Cabinet secretary the mandate of supervision over the NFA, the agency was moved back to the Agriculture department after Evasco was removed as NFA Council chairman and a new Palace committee was created to supervise rice importation.
“This transfer of supervisory functions came after Secretary Evasco transmitted the confidential memorandum … outlining the alleged anomalies in the NFA, which include, among others, the dubious order of Aquino to pull out NFA representatives [at] the ports of entry of NFA,” she said./PN
