A committee in the House of Representatives will conduct a congressional investigation into the alleged anomalous and highly irregular sale of 75,000 bags of rice by the National Food Authority (NFA) to certain traders.
Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, chair of the panel, said Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez has directed that there will be no sacred cows in Thursday’s investigation by his panel.
“The Speaker has always tasked the Committee to probe anything,” Enverga told reporters. “There will be no sacred cows. That’s why it’s automatic, as he instructed, make this a priority.”
“I am here also to appraise everyone on the developments in the Committee on Agriculture and Food. Just for everyone’s information, May I invite everyone tomorrow that we will be conducting our moto proprio inquiry in aid of legislation particular to the issue on NFA.
So, I hope that we see you also tomorrow,” he said.
This developed as Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel appointed NFA assistant administrator for finance and administration Piolito C. Santos as acting officer-in-charge of the agency effective Wednesday.
The Department of Agriculture, in a statement, said it cannot leave the country’s food agency unmanned even for the short time, as people are depending on the NFA to secure rice supply for the lean season and as buffer stocking for calamities.
“The NFA is a very important government agency, especially during calamities and other disasters as well as in the lives of millions of poor Filipinos. We cannot lose heart during this challenging time for the NFA and DA family,” Tiu Laurel said.
Tiu Laurel appointed Santos in a zoom meeting attended by 2,000 NFA employees nationwide.
Romualdez directed the committee to investigate the Disadvantageous sale of 75,000 sacks of rice by the NFA, as part of the Speaker’s efforts to lower the price of rice by going after rice smugglers and wrongdoers.
Enverga said a resolution was filed in the House of Representatives last week seeking to probe the same transaction, but due to the immense work the chamber is doing with proposed amendments to the Constitution, it was not entered into the calendar.
House Resolution (HR) 1611 was filed last Feb. 27 by Enverga and Rep. Robert Raymund Estrella of ABONO party-list group.
Enverga earlier commended the Office of the Ombudsman and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel for acting swiftly on the controversy involving the NFA.
The Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension of NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco and 138 other agency officials for their alleged participation in the questionable transaction.
Tiu Laurel implemented the order Monday. The rice stocks Bioco allegedly allowed to be sold without public bidding were worth P93 million.
