LAUREL ORDERS DA’S IAS TO CHECK ON NFA’S RICE STOCKS

By Junex Doronio

MANILA — In his bid to clean up the National Food Authority (NFA) of unscrupulous officials and traders taking advantage through the sale of aging rice buffer stocks, Department of Agriculture (DA) Francisco “Kiko” Tiu Laurel Jr. has ordered the agency’s Internal Audit Service (IAS) to examine NFA’s rice stocks disposition since 2019.

Laurel issued the directive amid the alleged irregularities in the sale of the NFA’s buffer stocks to private traders.

“DA-NFA officials and personnel are directed to extend their full assistance and cooperation to DA-IAS to ensure the successful conduct of this audit,” the DA chief said.

According to the DA news release on Saturday (09 March 2024), the department’s IAS, headed by officer-in-charge Director Joan Jagonos-Oliva, has been ordered to review the period starting in 2019 when the Rice Tariffication Law was passed.

It was learned that the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law, which allowed liberalized importation of rice, has removed the NFA’s role in regulating the rice sector as well as its function as the only agency allowed to import rice shipments into the country.

The DA clarified that NFA’s mandate now solely focuses on ensuring a sufficient supply of buffer stocks of rice in the Philippines—30 days worth of the country’s total consumption during the lean season, and 15 days otherwise.

However, the DA noted that these provisions might have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous officials and traders through the sale of aging rice buffer stocks.

“We want to see if there is a pattern of rice disposition that is disadvantageous to the government,” Laurel Jr. said.

(el Amigo/MNM)