EDITORIAL - NFA housecleaning

With rice retailed at P20 per kilo still stuck in the realm of aspiration, a scandal has erupted in the National Food Authority, which is tasked to maintain a rice buffer stock for the country by buying from local farmers. The scandal has led to the six-month suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman of 139 NFA officials and employees led by administrator Roderico Bioco, for administrative charges of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. The ombudsman has subpoenaed documents related to the case.

Apart from the ombudsman, the House of Representatives is conducting a probe amid a report of NFA assistant administrator for operations Lemuel Pagayunan about an allegedly anomalous sale of 130,000 bags of NFA rice worth P93.75 million to two traders at prices lower than the prevailing costs. The two then sold the rice at high prices.

NFA officials have defended the sale, explaining that the agency is allowed to sell rice buffer stock if the rice is deteriorating and could become unsafe for human consumption. Pagayunan, however, said the rice sold was not approaching decay, and no public bidding was held. The NFA Council, the governing body of the agency, was not informed of the sale. Rebagging and reselling of the rice, he told the House, “was not appropriate.”

With the suspension of the NFA officials, the government must ensure that there will be no serious disruption in the agency’s principal task, which is to buy locally produced rice and maintain a healthy buffer of the nation’s staple. The NFA has long been hounded by suspicions of corruption. Under the Rice Tariffication Law, the NFA has been stripped of its authority to stabilize rice supply and prices through importations. With its mandate already drastically limited, it’s doubly disappointing to hear allegations of continuing anomalies in the NFA.

Now even carrying out its limited task could be compromised. The six-month suspension covers 12 regional managers, 26 branch managers and 99 warehouse supervisors of the NFA. It will take time before the ongoing probes by the ombudsman and the House are finished. In the meantime, rice retail prices continue to go up, again fueling food inflation. The government must see to it that the turbulence in the NFA will lead to a genuine, thorough housecleaning, and will not destabilize rice supply and prices.