The chairman of the House committee on agriculture on Monday called for a congressional inquiry into the rising prices for rice as the National Food Authority came under heavy fire for its failure to ensure food security.
Panel chairman and ANAC IP Party-list Rep. Jose Panganiban said he would invite the concerned government agencies to shed light on why rice prices remained high, and how the government, through the NFA, had imported grain stock from Thailand and Vietnam that was infested with weevils.
“We have already sent a letter to NFA asking them to shed light on these issues,” Panganiban said at a news conference.
Panganiban said the NFA does not seem to have fulfilled its mandate to ensure food security and stable prices for the nation’s staple food.
He added that the NFA declaration that tons of weevil-infested rice brought into Subic was safe for distribution after being fumigated.
“It is not [acceptable]. That was an irresponsible statement,” Panganiban said.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, also urged the NFA to act on the problems plaguing the rice industry.
“The NFA administrator is right; we legislators should go out in the field and really look into the problems in the rice industry. The short recess of Congress provided an opportunity to go to our markets and learn firsthand about the prices and supplies of rice––and what I discovered is very worrisome,” Nograles said.
On Friday, NFA Administrator Jason Aquino challenged legislators and concerned parties to go around the country to learn more about the issues involving rice, saying that the NFA is “open for scrutiny anytime.”
“Those who want to verify what we had been doing, can check our records, go around the country and ask the people,” he said.
Nograles said he discovered that there is a “large spike” in rice prices in Cagayan de Oro because the NFA had slashed the supply of NFA rice in Region 10 and diverted it to Region 9 to address the rice crisis in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
As a result, Nograles said, the residents of Cagayan de Oro have no choice but to buy commercial rice. The absence of cheaper alternatives in the form of NFA rice has allowed commercial rice suppliers to dictate rice prices in the market.
Meanwhile, Panganiban assured farmers that the proposed “Revised Agricultural Tariffication Act” that he principally sponsored will not hurt them even as it seeks the entry of cheaper rice by replacing the quantitative import restrictions on rice with tariffs.
Panganiban said the government is targeting to raise P20 billion to provide subsidies for the farmers.
Senator Francis Escudero on Monday said he would not join some of his colleagues in calling for the abolition of the NFA or the resignation of its administrator.
Escudero said the NFA is capable of doing things that cannot be done by private sector traders.
He also said he wants to hear what Aquino has to say about the problems that beset the rice industry.
“I have heard so many things against him, so I want to hear him,” he said.
If there is a liability, all those accountable should be made fo answer for the rice crisis, he said.
He said he hopes Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate agriculture and food committee, will call another hearing to determine what the NFA and the Department of Agriculture have been doing to address the problems.
The Commission on Audit, meanwhile, has flagged the National Food Authority for allowing private rice traders to exceed their maximum weekly allocations for Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and Cavite in 2017.
Non-compliance with the allocations was noted in Cavite provincial office, NFA Region 1 provincial offices in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, and areas served by the NFA North District Office, the COA said.
“The maximum weekly rice allocation to retailers… was not properly observed in NDO, CPO and two POs in RO No. 1, resulting in inequitable rice distribution, thereby defeating the intention of the allocation system and giving undue advantage to selected retailers which could lead to diversion of stocks,” the report read.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, meanwhile, dismissed the calls to abolish the NFA.
In a dzMM radio interview, Piñol said the NFA abolition would not solve the rice shortage in Zamboanga City.
“Yes, we need NFA,” he said.
“NFA is a state agency recognized by the World Trade Organization. That is our advantage. Let us not just say hasty words,” he added.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian called for the abolition of NFA for the rice shortage and the rising prices of rice in Mindanao, while former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said he would support such a call.
“That is not the answer. Let us refrain from knee-jerk reaction. Let us look at this problem from an institutional standpoint. Let us not [make a] hasty decision such as that,” Piñol said.
NFA discovered 330,000 bags of weevil-infested imported rice at the ports of Subic Bay Freeport and Tabaco, Albay.
But Piñol said the presence of rice weevils was commonplace.
“You know, we children of farmers know that. Actually, it is just ordinary, natural just as there are black ants,” he added.
“I agree with Dr. Frisco Malabanan that it is safe to eat. In fact, in our province, we just put the [weevil-infested] rice under the sun. It is just normal to see [weevils] in palay and rice [grains],” he said.
But Piñol said someone must be held accountable for the delays in the delivery of the rice to the market, and why it so easily deteriorated.
