The chairperson of the Senate agriculture and food committee on Tuesday said a new “liberalized” model on the importation of rice may pave the way for the abolition of the National Food Authority.
Senator Cynthia Villar made the statement as the NFA came under fire for soaring grain prices, including in Zamboanga City which has been placed under a state of calamity because of a rice crisis.
“We have to liberalize the importation of rice but we have to impose tariff to protect our farmers,” she said, adding that the NFA will no longer be needed under the proposed rice tariffication bill.
A Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund instead will be established to help farmers become competitive.
Villar noted that the NFA seemed to have strayed from its mandate to buy rice from farmers so that the farmers “will not be at the mercy of traders.”
The Commission on Audit earlier flagged the decision of the NFA to use some P5.1 billion in subsidy from the national government as payment for maturing loans instead of allocating the funds for the food security program of the agency.
Government auditors said the amount was supposed to ensure there was sufficient food supply in the country.
“The procurement shortfall affected other programs of NFA, such as rice distribution and buffer stocking resulting in higher price of rice, unavailability of NFA rice in the market and lower inventory of rice in various NFA warehouses,” CoA said.
For his part, Senator Francis Pangilinan called the attention of Agriculture chief Manny Piñol for his alleged failure to put an end to large-scale rice smuggling, which is considered a form of economic sabotage and is a non-bailable offense.
“If Secretary Piñol has been in the know about the rice smuggling and other illegal transactions related to rice in Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, what has he done about it? Why hasn’t he acted on it considering that he has been in the post for more than two years now?” Pangilinan said.
As this developed, Piñol said he is ready to eat the weevil-infested rice to assure the public that the grains are safe to eat.
NFA earlier said the tons of weevil-infested rice brought into Subic were safe for distribution after being fumigated.
“Serve me that bukbok rice, I will eat it!” Piñol said in an ANC interview.
“I’m a farmer. Bukbok is as much a reality to grains as black ants are to fruits. What’s your problem with weevil? Unmilled rice really get attacked by bukbok,” he added.
