DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has ordered an investigation on allegations of improper rice sale.
The DA chief said he received reports that the National Food Authority (NFA) sold “thousands of tons of rice at a price disadvantageous to the government.”
Certain NFA executives allegedly “authorized the sale of milled rice stored in the agency’s warehouse for P25 a kilo without bidding and after purchasing the grains in palay form at P23 per kilo”, he said.
Tiu Laurel created a panel of investigators to look into allegations.
“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 own probe to ferret out the truth,” the official said.
He added: “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”.
The names of the NFA executives have not been disclosed.
“Those who profit at the expense of farmers and fisherfolk as well as Filipino consumers should be meted the harshest penalty under the law,” Tiu Laurel said.
NFA administrator Roderico Bioco said the sale was meant to dispose of aging stock.
“NFA Council allows the NFA management to dispose aging stocks up to 10% lower than the mandated price (P22.50/kg floor price up to the maximum mandated ceiling P25.00/kg) and the damaged stocks at least P6.50/kg,” he said.
“The current NFA management was able to responsibly dispose 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,” he added.The NFA management has urged the NFA Council to increase the mandated maximum selling price of NFA rice.
“In the future, when NFA has modernized, the distress selling could be avoided as the shelf life is longer and there is more time to allow the disposition of the stocks in best condition to the preferred purpose—calamity relief,” it added.
Inflation slowed to 2.8 percent in January due to slower increases in the prices of food, except for rice. (ABS-CBN News)
