Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is working out a ban to import the 5-percent broken milled white rice known as the fancy “whole grain” rice to be able to lower the prices of commercial rice in the market before December.
At the first 1st Usapang Politika, Agrikultura at Komunidad media forum in Quezon City, NFA spokesperson Angelo Imperial Jr. said Piñol wanted commercial rice to be 25-percent broken just like the NFA rice being sold at P27 per kilo.
“Our good secretary met with the millers and importers last Wednesday and discussed the issue. Instead of importing the 5 percent or 10-percent broken milled rice and selling it to the public, he asked the stakeholders to import the 25-percent broken milled rice, or the rice with ‘binlid,’” he told reporters.
“At least 25 percent of our NFA rice is broken, or not whole grain,” he told the Manila Standard.
He said Piñol has set another meeting with the millers and importers on Oct. 18 to iron out their “counter-hirit.”
“We may be able to see 25-percent broken [commercial] rice earlier before December,” he said.
“Our secretary is doing consultations, not imposing, with the affected groups reacting on the issue. I cannot say they are objecting, but they have this so-called ‘ counter-hirit,’” he added.
According to Imperial, the commercial rice traders fear that people may no longer buy commercial rice with 25-percent broken grains.
“This is not yet a decision. We are still negotiating with the millers and importers,” he said.
He said Piñol wanted to give the local rice farmers the chance to supply good variety of rice to high-end restaurants and hotels that may be affected by the looming ban in the importation of the fancy rice.
Meanwhile, Akbayan Party-list Senator Risa Hontiveros pressed Piñol regarding his decision to cancel the leave of absence of former NFA Administrator Jason Aquino and retain his services despite the alleged large-scale corruption and shortage of government-subsidized rice in the market under his term.
The Agriculture chief reportedly said he needed Aquino during the transition of the NFA to a new leadership.
“Why is Aquino, who is included in a CoA report pointing to possible technical malversation in the NFA, allowed to go back to work and tasked no less to transition the NFA to a new leadership?” asked Hontiveros.
“Is the government rewarding corruption? Is it the policy of the government to provide graceful exits to disgraced public officials allegedly involved in corruption? Or is this an attempt to cover his tracks?” Hontiveros asked Piñol.
In related developments:
• The Bureau of Customs has recovered only 16,000 out of the 21,015 missing sacks of rice at the Port of Zamboanga which mysteriously slipped out of the bureau’s custody last month allegedly with the help of two top Customs officials in Zamboanga.
Joint elements from the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines intercepted three vessels containing 23, 015 sacks of rice at Ben Go Wharf, Baliwasan, Zamboanga City, on Sept. 22, 2018.
The smuggled rice was turned over to the Bureau of Customs-Zamboanga for inventory and issuance of the corresponding warrant of seizure and detention.
On Sept. 30, the rice was discovered to have been missing from BoC-Zamboanga custody.
• NFA clarified that the agency charged only a minimum of P165.00 to a maximum of P11,000.00, depending on
capitalization for a rice retailer’s license, not the atrocious amount of P115,000.00 quoted by Senator Win Gatchalian as the license fee for supermarkets to sell NFA rice.
Gatchalian was quoted by media as saying “the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association revealed that the NFA is requiring retailers with a paid-up capital of P10 million to pay P115,000 for a permit to sell rice.”
NFA Central Office management checked with NFA-NCR branch if there was anyone who was assessed with such amount for license to retail and found out there was none.
“In fact, supermarkets that were already licensed to retail rice before the signing of our MOA didn’t need to
pay additional fees,” NFA-NCR said.
NFAis empowered by law,through Presidential Decree No. 4, to collect of fees from grains businessmen for different lines of business like retailing, wholesaling, milling, warehousing, among others.
CoA questioned the NFA use of its P5.1-billion subsidy from the national government to pay for maturing loans instead of allocating the funds to the food security program of the agency.
Agricultural groups reportedly accused Aquino of technical malversation.
The CoA ralso highlighted the lack of documentation and the absence of pertinent documents that prevent the proper assessment of many of the NFA’s transactions.
It also pointed to the low level of compliance and efficiency in the allocation, distribution and issuance of stocks as well as the sale of ageing stocks.
Hontiveros said a report from CoA confirmed the existence of massive corruption in the NFA involving personalities she exposed during her privilege speech on the NFA “tara system” and previously mentioned by Senator Grace Poe during a Senate Committee on Agriculture hearing.
“I find it extremely interesting that the CoA report already flagged the issues and anomalies in rice importation, diversion and stocking; that the personalities behind these schemes were already exposed, yet, these people still remain in the NFA,” Hontiveros said.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña immediately suspended two BoC ranking officials, Port District Collector lawyer Lyceo Martinez and district commander of the Customs Police District, Felimeno Salazar who allegedly connived with smugglers for the illegal release of the seized rice shipment.
According to the bureau chief, this has to be done immediately to ensure they will not be able to influence the investigation that is currently undertaken.
“I will go after the people involved in this and will unmask the illegal activities of Customs personnel from Zamboanga who are in cahoots with smugglers,” Lapeña declared.
Ongoing efforts are now being conducted to recover the missing rice.
Lapeña said that the bureau’s team led to the recovery on Oct. 1 of 5,000 sacks of rice in a warehouse reportedly owned by Basulta Traders Corporation.
On Oct. 2, another 3,000 sacks of rice were recovered in Suterville Warehouse, Manga Drive. Meanwhile in Kasanyangan Compound, Sta. Catalina, around 8,000 sacks of rice were also found.
“I condemn this deplorable act of smugglers and conniving Customs personnel. This is unthinkable especially during this time when rice should be easily available in the markets,” Lapeña added.
The customs chief vowed that the truth will come out and no one will be spared from the results of the ongoing investigation.
He directed the investigation team to speed up their probe.
Lapeña has also sought help from various competent line and law enforcement authorities to recover the remaining missing sacks of rice. With Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo
