The Palace on Wednesday blamed outgoing National Food Authority chief Jason Aquino for “singlehandedly” aggravating inflation with the rice crisis during his watch, which in turn led to the decline in President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval and trust ratings.
“This Jason Aquino, I think he singlehandedly created this problem with rice which has been a contributor to the rising inflation rate. He must be held accountable,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in an interview with radio dzMM.
“If you remember the tête-à-tête of Presidential Chief Legal Counsel [Salvador Panelo], the President said he accepted Aquino’s resignation because he will no longer be able to handle it. So, I know he’s gone. But I was surprised someone told me yesterday that he’s still sitting at the NFA Council,” he said.
“He should be relieved. That’s why I said the deputy administrator must be the one to lead until General [Rolando] Bautista becomes the NFA administrator,” he said.
“My point is, his resignation has already been accepted, so why does he still attend the NFA Council [meeting]?” Roque added.
In a press briefing Tuesday, Roque said he would file charges against Aquino if no one else would do it. However, he clarified that charging the ex-NFA chief of technical malversation is not enough as evidenced by then-President Benigno Aquino’s case with the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
“It must be graft and corruption because [of the] damage to both government and the public,” he said.
Roque said Duterte made it clear that whoever cannot deliver government service must not only be fired but also be held liable.
The chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, meanwhile, welcomed moves by the NFA Council to improve its local palay procurement efforts by raising the buying price of palay to P20.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, the panel’s chairman, said the NFA Council’s plans to provide incentives to rice farmers by increasing the buying price of palay would allow it to purchase palay from local farmers and shore up stocks of NFA rice.
Nograles’ statement was in response to the statement of Agriculture Secretary and NFA Council Chairman Emmanuel Piñol that the NFA Council had approved the provision of incentives to rice farmers selling their palay to the government.
“The buying price of NFA remains at 17 pesos per kilo, but we will come up with incentives that when quantified would reach 20 pesos per kilo,” Piñol said in a news briefing following his first meeting with the NFA Council.
Piñol announced that the NFA would give transportation incentives to farmers who would sell their crops to the government. They will likewise be entitled to receive farm equipment.
These developments are proof, Nograles said, that President Duterte made the right move by giving jurisdiction of the NFA to the DA via Executive Order 62.
Signed on Sept. 17, EO 62 also reorganizes the NFA Council, designating the secretary of Agriculture as NFA chairman.
“I agree that the NFA should be returned to the DA so that the needs of farmers can be addressed. Our farmers have many needs, and the NFA is one of the agencies involved in providing support to our farmers,” he added.
While Nograles lauded the additional incentives given to rice farmers, he reiterated his recommendation for the NFA Council to increase the buying price of palay to P22 a kilo.
Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, meanwhile, said he wants to ensure that the poor get priority in the distribution of affordable NFA rice, after the government moved to make the grain available in supermarkets.
He said the intention of the government to expand the outlets for NFA rice was good.
“But because the supply of NFA rice is limited and commercial rice costs so much, we need to make sure the poor, who eat only once or twice a day, benefit from these moves,” he said in Filipino.
Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said small farmers need an affordable system of certification for organic products.
Villar said “farmers find the cost of third party certification with the tag price ranging from P42,000 to P150,000 per crop, valid for only one year to be exorbitant.”
“This amount is way beyond the purse of small farmers… Only rich farmers or corporations can afford third party certification. The provision has become a deterrent and disincentive for small farmers comprising a large percentage of the farming population,” Villar said.
To address this, Villar authored Senate Bill 1911 which proposes the establishment of the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) as an alternative to third-party certification.
PGS, which will only cost farmers P600 to P2,000, is built on trust and integrity of farmers and consumers who conduct the certification process themselves through adherence to certification standards, guidelines, regulation and processes, similarly observed by third party certification.
Also on Wednesday, the Bureau of Customs denied there was rice hoarding in Mindanao sub-port.
In a statement, the BOC said rice shipments at the sub-port of Mindanao Terminal, Misamis Oriental, were being released without delay even though only one X-ray machine was operating.
“We would like to set the record straight that there was no instance at this sub-port of alleged hoarding of rice,” said Port of Cagayan de Oro District Collector Floro Calixihan Jr.
President Duterte had earlier instructed the Department of Agriculture to go after rice hoarders and smugglers.