Albay Rep. Joey Salceda is asking the National Food Authority to shed light on the P152 billion in cash the agency was supposed to have received from 2018 to 2022 from government subsidies and rice sales, which must then be subjected to an exhaustive review by the Commission on Audit.
Earlier, President Marcos said the suspension of more than 130 NFA officials and employees involved in other
questionable actions outside the anomalous sale of rice was a “safety measure.”
“The situation does not only involve the anomalous sale of NFA rice.
It also is an examination of some of the procedures within the NFA that were undertaken without board approval, without the proper discussion within the NFA and the DA, and with the rest of the Cabinet,” the PresiDent said.
House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo also lambasted the NFA for alleged “mekus-mekus” or manipulation of its rice supplies, which led to the suspension of NFA officials and employees.
Tulfo berated NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco after he admitted that the sale of rice was not done through proper bidding. The lawmaker also castigated Bioco over how he chose the companies to which the rice was sold.
“That’s your excuse, that you sold it for P25 per kilo, as is, where is, because it’s close to rotted when you sold it?” Tulfo asked the NFA official.
“Yes, because that’s the maximum allowable price,” Bioco replied in the hearing.
Salceda’s inquiry into the NFA fund came after Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, conducted a hearing on the reported anomalous sale of 75,000 sacks of buffer stock rice to commercial traders.
Salceda, vice chairperson of the agriculture committee, urged the 19th Congress “not to limit its investigation merely to the P93 million sale in question this year,” but to include all sales of buffer stock since the Rice Tariffication Law took effect in 2019.
“The NFA is supposed to have received a total of P85.7 billion in national government subsidies and another P66.3 billion in sales of rice stocks from 2018 to 2022. That totals to P152 billion from those five years alone,” said Salceda, who also chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means.
“That is additive. Even with a loss incurred of P20 billion – or the difference between the direct cost of rice and the sale of rice – that’s still P132 billion to account for,” he noted.
The Rice Tariffication Law earlier limited the NFA’s role to buffer stocking from local farmers. But Salceda noted that “in theory, the NFA should sometimes make gains, rather than merely make consistent losses, if it can auction its rice stocks.”
The Albay lawmaker also asked the agriculture panel to request the COA to make a comprehensive presentation of the NFA’s finances and management practices, as well as their adverse findings, during the 2019-2023 period.
Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano of Abang Lingkod party-list also asked the committee to invite Officials from the Ombudsman to shed light on its investigation.
Earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman placed under preventive suspension of NFA personnel, including Bioco. With Charles Dantes
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline ‘Salceda to NFA: ‘Where did the P152B cash flows go?’.”