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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Senate inquiry on NFA's 'highly suspicious' sale of P93.75 million rice stock sought

Senate inquiry on NFA's 'highly suspicious' sale of P93.75 million rice stock sought

Published Mar 4, 2024 05:04 am

Sen. Imee Marcos has filed a resolution seeking to investigate the National Food Authority's (NFA) "highly suspicious" P93.75-million sale of 75,000 bags of rice stock to two traders.

In filing Senate Resolution No. 940, Marco expressed alarm that the NFA has "completely lost its way" amid a cutback in the global rice supply.

"The Philippines is now the world's largest rice importer and the dire market situation today will only worsen in the coming months," she warned, citing El Niño weather disturbances and rice-exporting countries prioritizing their domestic needs.

"The NFA was also at the forefront of buying rice from India. Bakit sila nauwi duon eh bawal na bawal sa charter nila na sila ang mag-import (Why did they end up there when their charter strictly prohibits them from importation)?" she pointed out.

The senator recalled that her late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos, established the NFA in 1972 to buy palay from local farmers, stabilize rice prices for the Filipino consumer, and ensure a sufficient buffer stock for calamities.

However, the agency has repeatedly fallen short of its required buffer stock and been unable to cope with higher farmgate prices of palay, which rose to as high as 27 pesos per kilo last year.

Although palay's farmgate price has dipped to 23 pesos, the NFA had earlier pegged its capacity to subsidize local farmers at only 17 to 19 pesos per kilo.

Marcos said the NFA has been unable to support all local farmers desperate for aid, especially when rice smuggling forced them to sell their harvests below the cost of production.

In calling for an investigation, she emphasized that a thorough review of the NFA's mandate was crucial to deal with a global rice shortage.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform has earlier said that the Senate will investigate the matter.

"Mag-iinvestigate kami dyan, kasi I have personal experience with regards to that kaya hindi ako happy dyan (We will investigate that, because I have personal experience regarding that that's why I'm not happy with it)," she said in an interview.

Asked if there's a "mafia" within the NFA, she said that it's nothing new.

"Matagal na yon, its not a new findings, di ba kaya ko pinasa ang Rice Tarrification Law, kasi sila ang nagiimport ng rice exclusively and then nakikipag-conbive sila sa cartel kaya tinanggal namin ung power to import sa kanila, they have only the power to buy from the local farmers at niliberalize yung importation of rice (That's old news, it's not a new findings, that's why I passed the Rice Tarrification Law it's because they import rice exclusively and they will connive with the cartel that's why we removed the power to import from them, they only have the power to buy from the local farmers and we liberalized the importation of rice)," she said.

Related Tags

National Food Authority (NFA) Senator Cynthia Villar Senator Imee Marcos senate committee on agriculture Department of Agriculture
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