THERE was confusion on the fate of the National Food Authority and the NFA Council after two Cabinet officials gave conflicting statements yesterday on whether these will be abolished or not.
In a radio interview early Friday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said President Rodrigo Duterte disclosed his decision to abolish the NFA Council during a dialog with rice traders at Malacañang Thursday night.
“He announced that he has abolished the NFA Council and that he would transfer NFA and other agriculture-related agencies and return these to the Department of Agriculture,” Piñol said.
But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque clarified that the NFA and the NFA Council would not be abolished, nor would these be returned to the DA.
“The 18-member NFA Council would not be abolished contrary to earlier reports. The President expressed his intent to place the National Food Authority under the Office of the President,” Roque said.
The President, Roque said, also appeared poised to clip the powers of NFA Administrator Jason Aquino by stripping him of the power to approve rice importation.
“The President is considering the approval of rice importation to be centralized under the Office of DA Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, subject to the review of the Office of the Executive Secretary,” the Palace spokesman added.
By placing the NFA under the Office of the President, Duterte will now have a more direct hand on issues concerning the agency.
NFA Council chairman Leoncio Evasco earlier slammed the NFA for creating an artificial rice shortage with its statement on supposed zero buffer stock.
As this developed, Roque said rice traders have pledged to give at least 700,000 sacks of rice to replenish the NFA stocks sold at P38 per kilo.
“This will allow retailers to sell rice to the public at P39 per kilo,” Roque said. The lowest price for rice at wet markets these days is around P44 per kilo.
The special pricing will be given to retailers by rice traders starting next week until the supply of low-priced NFA rice comes in, he added.