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“DISAPPEARED” cheap government rice may just surface
again—or at least their whereabouts could be
traced—after an investigation was begun on two National
Food Authority (NFA) officials in Cagayan Valley region,
who were asked to take leaves of absence pending
completion of the inquiry.
The
disappearance of the government rice in the market has
caused a mild panic even among employees of the NFA, who
earlier expressed suspicion the culprits who hid the
rice were fellow employees.
They
said government rice is usually sold illegally to big
traders (an illegal practice that in the jargon of the
NFA is known as ‘diversion’), who then remill them to
convert the rice into commercial rice that is sold some
P8 to P10 higher than the government rice.
NFA
Region 2 manager Danilo Pastrana and NFA Isabela
provincial chief Alfredo Paguila filed their respective
indefinite leaves of absence late last week amid the
confusion in various Luzon markets, as well as within
the NFA offices on the whereabouts of the rice.
NFA
public affairs director Rex Estoperez said the two,
“known for their tested integrity,” could shed light on,
and vindicate the agency, from the “diversion” scandal.
In
Central Luzon where “diversion” is also reportedly
rampant, NFA regional manager Nicolas Crisostomo
deployed “Palengke [market] Watch” teams to monitor the
retailers to find out if they are selling their
allocation—given at P18.25 a kg—to commercial traders. A
Bigasang Bayan outlet is allotted 10 bags of 50-kg sack
of NFA rice; and accredited individual retailers, five
bags each.
“This is
one precautionary measure that will surely discourage
any attempt and prevent traders from being tempted by
any misdoings,” said Crisostomo.
He added
that as an additional precaution, they also repack the
rice allocations of accredited retailers in 1-kg packs
and deliver these right to the outlets escorted by NFA
personnel.
As this
developed, rice industry watchers predicted that rice
prices will reach up to P36 per kilo soon if the present
trend in the world market continues and if the
government fails to address the domestic agricultural
problems, including the rice scandal.
On the
legislative front, the militant fisherfolk group
Pambansang Lakas ng Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya)
is urging lawmakers to investigate the lack of rice in
the market, which has lifted prices to near unaffordable
levels. They are worried prices will continue to rise.
In Metro
Manila, the price of regular and well-milled rice
increased by P2 to P5 a kilo, with some rice retailers
complaining the cost of a sack of rice they regularly
buy at P1,200 now costs P1,500.
Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap suggested a
congressional inquiry to determine the true inventory of
stocks—including imported rice—of the NFA, which
reported it had more than enough to tide over the
country over the lean months of June to September.
He
rejected reducing imported rice tariffs because it would
further strengthen the powerful rice cartel and give
unscrupulous government officials more opportunity for
kickbacks. “Rice is an P80-billion local industry. Those
who control the local production, as well as the
importation of rice, will surely control local and
national politics, since rice is a highly sensitive and
politically explosive product.”
He
added, “Malacañang and the Department of Agriculture
want to kill the local rice production in the country by
deluding the people with rice imports at the expense of
local farmers and the food security of the nation.
Increasing dependence on rice imports is not and will
never be a solution to this ongoing rice crisis
confronting the people.”
He said
the Department of Agriculture (DA) should present a
master list of all local rice traders, importers and
retailers and tell the public how they work as far as
procurement, distribution, marketing and retailing of
rice is done.
According to Hicap, the current rice situation also
calls for a second look of the 1995 Senate report on the
rice cartel issued at the height of the rice crisis that
year, since the names and operations of the rice cartel,
known as the Binondo 7, had been substantially
identified by the Senate probers.
Hicap
said the DA should also present the state of rice
production in the country, particularly the policy of
land use conversion, and disclose how many hectares of
rice lands were converted into golf courses and other
nonrice commercial and industrial use and the prospect
of reclaiming these lands and reconverting these lands
to rice production.
Lastly,
Hicap said lawmakers should investigate how the national
government through Malacañang and the DA spent the
P20-billion Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization
Fund (Acef), including the P4.2-billion Ginintuang
Masaganang Ani Fund, which was meant to procure 407,000
sacks of hybrid rice seeds and 225,000 sacks of
certified rice seeds last year to boost rice production
in 2007 and 2008. |
