THE National Food Authority (NFA) said over the weekend it welcomes any legal action in relation to the alleged economic sabotage being raised by a consumer group against the agency for “illegally” using a port as a transshipment point for rice.
NFA Administrator Renan B. Dalisay said although the agency had already issued a statement that the rice stocks seen at the Harbour Center Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) is not the NFA’s property, it is still open to any probe or inquiry pushed by the National Coalition of Filipino Consumers (NCFC).
Based on an earlier allegation of the NCFC that there was an illegal-rice hoarding at the HCPTI, the NFA immediately sent enforcement officers to the facility, but did not find any rice stocks there. It was later found that the warehouse was used as a transshipment hub by Golden Orient Ship Management and Agencies Inc., the cargo handler hired by Vina Foods Inc., the winning supplier for the NFA-imported rice from Vietnam.
Dalisay said under the government-to-government rice importation, the contract price includes all cost, such as cost of insurance in freight, delivered at place and free on warehouse.
“This means that the NFA assumes legal ownership of the stock only when these are finally delivered at the NFA-designated warehouse. Before its arrival at the designated place, it is still under ownership of the supplier,” he said in a statement.
“We welcome any probe on said issue so that we would be able to establish the truth of the allegations,” Dalisay added.
The NFA chief said he had earlier requested a meeting with NCFC to clarify the issue, but until now the group has not replied to his request.