(March 14, 2024) – The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday said it is speeding up its investigation into the questionable sale of rice stocks by the National Food Authority (NFA) at a low price.
DA assistant secretary Arnel De Mesa said the agency is undertaking an internal audit and a special fact-finding investigation into the matter. Transactions starting 2019 are covered by the investigation.
According to De Mesa, DA secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. ordered a speedy probe to hold accountable those who are involved and to spare those who are innocent, recognizing the toll of the preventive suspension on the latter.
Laurel currently functions as the NFA administrator while DA director Larry Lacson sits as the deputy administration following the addition of two other officials in the suspension. All in all, there are around 141 executives and officials of the NFA preventively suspended while investigations are ongoing.
“We want to stabilize the situation at the NFA following the events of last week,” said Laurel. “We want to help NFA employees during these challenging times to continue to provide uninterrupted service, especially during the harvest season.”
Last March 4, the Office of the Ombudsman placed NFA administrator Roderico Bioco and over a hundred others under a six-month preventive suspension in connection with a questionable deal wherein milled rice stocks were allegedly sold to some traders at low prices, sans the council’s approval.
NFA officer-in-charge Piolito Santos and Department Manager for Operation and Coordination Jonathan Yazon were the latest to be included in the suspension order.
Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) told a media interview that the government lost as much as P112 million because of the low prices by which rice supply was sold to select traders. Instead of P38, SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet said the stock was only sold at P25 per kilo.
Cainglet alleged that this scheme only benefited traders instead of the poor population or those affected by disasters.
As of now, the retail price of local regular milled rice stands at P50 while the special type ranges from P56 to P66, based on DA’s monitoring. Imported regular milled rice, on the other hand, was around P48 to P51.
De Mesa assured that the country has sufficient buffer stock. Apart from the start of the harvest season, he said the NFA has also continued purchasing palay to ensure that the country has enough supply.
Source: News 5
