Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday said she supports the eventual abolition of the National Food Authority.
The Arroyo-led House earlier passed on final reading a tariffication bill that would end the NFA’s monopoly on rice imports by removing quantitative restrictions such as import quotas or prohibitions imposed on agricultural products and replacing these with tariffs.
“They have to import and when we tariffy importation, maybe NFA can be abolished because then it will be liberalized so it’s something that can be debated on,” she told reporters at the sidelines of a visit to an Aeta community in Pampanga.
“It can stay, it can go. To me, I’m neither here nor there about the situation but right now the most important thing is we should be able to import rice and make it arrive before October,” she said.
She said she would check on the status of a counterpart bill in the Senate.
Calls for the abolition of the NFA have mounted in after the sharp rise in the price of rice.
Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos also supported the abolition of the NFA.
At the Nanka media forum, Marcos hit the NFA for its failure to meet its mandate and to address the escalating prices of rice.
“Perhaps, it is [high] time to abolish the NFA. It was created by father, but I am telling you this, the NFA has defeated its purpose,” she said.
Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Sherwin Gatcahalian batted for the NFA’s abolition for its failure to address the rice crisis in Zamboanga City.
But farmers groups said the NFA should be retained to ensure that buffer stocks of rice are available in times of need.
The groups also emphasized the need for the NFA to continue licensing rice importers to prevent disorderly manipulation of stocks and pave the way for easy rice trade liberalization.
“We support calls for reforms within the NFA to obviate reported anomalies… However, the purported corruption within the agency should not be used as an excuse to dismantle the agency, which exercises a very vital role in the food security of the country,” they said in a position paper on tariffication.
The stakeholders include the Federation of Free Farmers, the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama), and 24 other groups.
The farmers said the agency could procure from farmers at competitive prices by periodically conducting auctions to replenish its buffer stocks. It can also develop services that will plug gaps in the value chain.
“Steps could also be taken to reduce the operating costs of the agency and generate revenues from services without necessarily engaging in costly market intervention,” they said.
Grain retailers and millers also reaffirmed their support for the NFA despite call for its abolition.
In letters and resolutions of support addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte, the groups called for the strengthening of the food agency instead of abolishing it. Instead of dismantling the NFA, the groups
are asking the President to help the food agency by increasing its procurement funds to be able to compete with private traders in buying palay produce from farmers.
The rice millers said the NFA was an important partner, giving them the opportunity to gain additional income from their milling operations.
Finance managers of the NFA, meanwhile, denied reports that agency funds had been diverted.
Earlier, reports said the Commission on Audit has called out the NFA for “diverting” its 2017 procurement subsidy of P5.1 billion to payment of maturing loans, although in its yearend report, CoA did not mention this.
The NFA said all of its funds and revenues, including the subsidy, accrue to a General Fund where all expenditures for operations, programs and projects for food security, as well as for debt servicing are sourced.
But in its 2017 report, the CoA also called the NFA’s attention to the improper storage of rice in its warehouses in the provinces.
State auditors said the NFA’s warehouses in Zamboanga City, Isabela, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija failed to adhere to the standard operating procedures in the proper storage of rice.
The rice stocks in a warehouse in Malolos, Bulacan were exposed to pests and rains due to leaks on its ceilings, while CoA found out that some bags of rice in Aurora’s Casiguran warehouse had holes and animal waste, and that pieces of paper were hung to drive away birds. CoA found cracks on the walls and floor of the warehouse in Isabela, while the Zamboanga City warehouse had birds entering the warehouse.
An NFA spokesman, Rex Estoperez, said they would exert efforts to improve the warehouses, but said they had no funds for repairs.