Career exec named new NFA chief

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is set to appoint a career official as administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said.

Medialdea told The STAR recently that NFA Deputy Administrator for marketing operations Judy Carol Dansal would be named the next chief of the grains agency.

“She’s a career official,” Medialdea said.

Dansal will succeed Jason Aquino, who was ordered dismissed from service by the Office of the Ombudsman over the smuggling of more than P34 million worth of Vietnamese rice in Cagayan de Oro City.

Aquino and two other customs officials were ordered dismissed for grave misconduct last April.

The former NFA chief is also one of the respondents in the graft and economic sabotage complaint filed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson over the alleged rice smuggling.

NFA Deputy Administrator Tomas Escarez was designated officer-in-charge after Aquino stepped down from his post last year.

Once appointed NFA chief, Dansal will serve in a concurrent capacity as member of the NFA council.

She was named member of the NFA Council last June 11, her appointment paper showed.

Dansal will serve the unexpired term of Aquino, which started on July 1, 2018 and will end on June 30, 2019.

Duterte also appointed Demetrio Tuason as special envoy of the president to the inauguration of Nayib Armando Bukele as president of El Salvador.