By Madelaine B. Miraflor
National Food Authority's (NFA) fight to retain some of its functions is now over. Over the weekend, the state-run grains agency has finally conceded to Rice Tariffication Law, which stripped off its regulatory and stabilization roles.
NFA logo (Photo courtesy of wikipedia)
Republic Act No. 11203 forced a major turning point in the key functions for 47 years of the NFA, which was formerly National Grains Authority when it started in 1972.
Right now, NFA is trying to maximize the time allotted to it to undergo massive organizational structure, which includes coming up with a mass layoff strategy.
NFA is also given 30 days to submit its Restructuring and Reorganization Plan to the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) for review and approval within 30 days.
"We have anticipated this major change in our organizational structure.
That's why we already conducted consultative meetings with our employees across the country to explain to them the effects of the rice liberalization law and to listen to their sentiments and suggestions on how to best implement our reorganization plan," Escarez said.
Although only about 400 employees are directly involved in NFA's regulatory and enforcement activities, a lot more could be affected by the reduced functions of NFA.
A source from NFA said that once the Rice Tariffication Law is on the roll, 25 percent of the agency's employees are set to avail of the retirement package offered to them by the government.
Escarez said the problem is that majority of the incumbent NFA employees are either "too young to retire or too old to find a new job".
"What we will be working on is to ensure that not a single employee will be adversely affected under our reorganization plan. We will exert best efforts to convince the approving authorities to give our employees a free choice on whether to stay with NFA or retire early and avail of the compensation package specified in the IRR," Escarez said.
Out of the more than 4,000 employees that NFA has now, more than 1,000 face forced retirement and layoff.
The Rice Tariffication Law, which will replace the volume restriction on rice imports with tariff, was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February. After several delays, the law's Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) has been finally signed last week.
Among the salient provisions in the IRR are guidelines on the President’s powers and the enforcement of safeguard measures in case of emergency situations like the sudden rise and drop in domestic prices.
The IRR likewise provides guidance on the reorganization of the NFA, following the repeal of its regulatory powers and the change of its functions to maintenance and management of the country’s buffer stocks.
"The finalization of the IRR ends all speculations about what will happen to NFA and the rice industry and has hopefully cleared some of the gray areas in the law's implementation. It also signals the beginning of the NFA's transition from its previous role in the grains industry to its new function in relation to national food security," NFA Acting Administrator Tomas R. Escarez said.
Based on the IRR, a transition period of "at most 60 days" is allotted to implement NFA's reorganization to suit its new function.
NFA has long opposed the main provisions of the Rice Tariffication Law, which stripped off the agency's regulatory functions, pointing out that its dangerous to leave rice under the mercy of the open market.
Under the law, NFA's function has been limited to buffer stocking for emergencies and calamities.
The law also stipulates that NFA shall source its buffer stock solely from local farmers.
Before Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol signed the IRR of the law, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has made last minute comment on its draft, causing another delay.
"We made comments," Piñol said. "Some NFA employees expressed their concern over the low remuneration for those employees who will be retrenched and retiring."
Escarez said that fortunately, the IRR has spelled out a matrix of compensation that will help NFA employees decide on whether to avail of it or not.
"We will see to it that the option to avail of the compensation package will be open to those who will be willing to retire early so that we can also allocate the ensuing vacant positions to those who will opt to stay with NFA," Escarez said.
"Giving our employees the assurance of continuous employment or the option to avail of an early retirement package will be a win-win situation for all," he added.
As stated in the IRR, the NFA's reorganization plan shall include a "job matching exercise which will entail a retooling of the personnel, re-learning and capacity building program and other institutional systems to suit the transformed role of NFA as buffer stocking and open market player in the rice industry."