Not for the faint of heart

Public service is not for the faint of heart. Good intentions alone will not guarantee success or longevity on the job. Arthur Juan, a retired San Miguel executive, found this out the hard way. So did his young assistant, a lawyer who had more rewarding options, but chose public service instead.

Juan and his assistant were accused by an old time rice trader of trying to extort big sums of money from him so that his padlocked warehouse would be allowed to open. The trader’s warehouse was raided by a team led by NFA chief Kiko Pangilinan and DILG Sec Mar Roxas and found adulterating NFA rice with animal feed and passing it off as commercial rice.

The rice trader turned the tables around and accused Juan and his assistant of asking some millions of pesos for themselves and also for Kiko and Mar. The trader went to the NBI and the NBI quickly leaked their findings that indeed Juan and his assistant were trying to extort. Messages in their cell phones were cited as principal evidence.

I feel uneasy about how the case was handled. My many years in journalism covering things like this make it easy for me to smell a rat. There are just too many things that do not add up.

I watched TV reports which included interviews of the parties involved. My gut feel tells me Juan and his assistant are more worthy of trust than the rice trader, who was after all, caught doing no good.

Assuming for the sake of argument that the NFA officials did attempt to extort so the trader’s warehouse could be reopened, could they be so stupid as to do it by text messages as alleged? Not only that, they also willingly surrendered their cell phones to the NBI at the start of the investigation. How did Juan get so old and keep his private sector job all these years and how did his assistant survive law school and pass the bar if they are that stupid?

Juan was just cajoled by Kiko to do some public service to cap his career. And I understand the young woman lawyer who served as Juan’s assistant was also just convinced to help out in the effort to reform a part of government that needed reforming for so long.

This young woman is also the daughter of an old colleague of mine at PNOC whose assignment among others, was to negotiate oil supplies. He retired after over 30 years of service with a solid reputation for honesty and competence. The mother of this young woman was once a high official of a prestigious girls college. I am sure they both taught their daughter the values that would keep her on the right path for life.

On the other hand, this rice trader knows how to play the game and we all know what that means. Between them and him, I know who to believe.

But what about the NBI? Well, they have been doing a good job lately, specially in the light of an untrustworthy national police. But even a few of them could be severely tempted.

As for the cell phone text messages, I am told that it is possible to introduce new text messages through a program to make it appear that those messages were sent from that phone. I am not saying that’s what happened but the possibility is there. Further investigation is required but in the meantime the reputations of a man who is in his senior years and a young woman just starting her professional life were tarnished.

The big flaw in the story is that the bribe will also be paid to Kiko and Mar. Assuming the NFA officials are guilty as charged, how will they get Kiko and Mar to agree to reopen the warehouse after all the publicity about its closing?

I am confident that both Kiko and Mar are clean. Mar can be accused of a lot of things, but corruption is definitely not in his DNA. The trader is stupid to believe a story like that. Kiko and Mar will not compromise on the need to file charges in court against that Chinoy trader.

That’s how the trader’s story falls flat. Sec. Leila de Lima ought to have this case thoroughly investigated by another NBI team for justice sake.

The other thing that makes that extortion story unbelievable is the record of performance of this NFA team that Kiko brought in. They were determined to clean up NFA and were doing all they could to deliver.

 In their short period of service, the NFA filed several cases of violations of PD No. 4 and for profiteering under the Price Act against rice traders engaged in illegal activities. Some 18 NFA managers, inspectors and warehousemen were also relieved from their posts and made to explain in writing why they should not face disciplinary sanctions in connection with the diversion and re-bagging of NFA rice.

They also filed 23 criminal and/or administrative cases against unscrupulous rice traders and NFA officials and employees. The mass relief of NFA officials and employees is also unprecedented.

 Juan was also able to make changes in NFA’s rice import procedures. For the first time in the history of NFA an open bidding process failed. Perhaps it is because there was no prearranged deal. The bid prices turned out to be too high and, therefore, unacceptable to the government.

I remember suggesting to Kiko to talk to Thailand about a government-to-government arrangement, and indeed that was what NFA did. The G to G importation process led to the lowering of the purchase price by $13 dollars per MT and a savings of over $6 million dollars, Kiko told me.

Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia all participated in the G to G importation process. We wanted to import 500, 000 metric tons. Thailand offered to supply 300,000 of the 500,000 with the lowest price of $475 per.

Under our G to G rules, should the 500,000 importation requirement not be met as to volume, the second lowest bidder (Vietnam bid $479) would be allowed to match the lowest offer. Vietnam matched the offer of $475 per MT for the remaining 200,000 MT. So both Thailand and Vietnam get to supply us with our requirements.

Cambodia was disqualified because their offer did not comply with the delivery schedule of Oct 15 and the volume required to be delivered.

Kiko also told me early on after he took in Juan that the experienced agri trader immediately recognized that a critical factor in the spike in rice prices was the tightening of supply. To avert the rise from going out of control and to help stabilize rice prices in June, the NFA increased its release of NFA rice by as much as 73 percent at P27 and P32 a kilo.

NFA under Juan also increased the number of retail stalls to make the inexpensive rice more accessible. In NCR, the NFA market share in the rice retail sector reached 26 percent. This strong NFA presence helped prevent commercial rice prices from going up to as much as P50 a kilo. It has stabilized in the P41 to P43 levels since June.

Planning to move faster on NFA reform also took place. Kiko said that last July 22, after a series of technical working group meetings involving the DOF, DTI, Landbank, PAFSAM and the BSP, the NFA Council approved a two year strategic plan for the NFA.

The main highlights of the strategic plan is to address the NFA’s huge debt burden, the need to decouple the NFA’s proprietary and regulatory functions, and the revision of the buy high and sell low policy of the NFA, among others.

Thus it seems ironic to me that the good guys who were simply doing their job and going after unscrupulous traders are now the ones about to face court charges. Even Malacanang said the next NFA chief must have integrity as if Juan and his assistant do not have that quality. So unfair! 

It is sad that the trader caught by Kiko and Mar mixing animal feeds with NFA rice and passing it off as commercial rice has succeeded in derailing reform efforts with what looks like fabricated charges.

This is one more case that will convince decent people to shun public service. We always knew public service is not for the faint of heart. What happened to Arthur Juan, who must now use his own resources to defend himself will make decent people think twice before accepting a government appointment. That will leave public service to those with questionable motives and with the ability to go around the rules. Sad.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco