‘Sale of rice buffer stock above board’
THE suspended administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA) yesterday defended the sale of rice buffer stocks to select traders, saying it was not irregular even if the sale did not undergo public bidding.
Roderico Bioco said told a hearing of the House agriculture committee that the agency’s rules were not violated in the alleged anomalous sale of the buffer stocks which, he said, were disposed of before becoming unfit for human consumption.
“We ensure the sale of stocks before they become unfit for consumption. There are no irregularities in the disposition of our stocks,” he told the panel chaired by Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga which conducted motu proprio investigation into the sale of milled rice at only P25 per kilo despite having bought the grains in palay form at P23 per kilo.
Bioco said the disposition of old buffer stocks is a regular function of the NFA, which he said is exempted from public bidding because of Commission on Audit (COA) circular 89-296 issued on Jan. 27, 1989.
Because of the sale, the NFA now has to replace buffer stocks that must be maintained at 15 to 30 days computed consumption equivalent to 350,000 metric tons, which are held on standby for emergencies including rice shortages and calamities.
The alleged anomalies led to the suspension of Bioco and 138 other NFA officials. The Ombudsman, in a March 1 directive, imposed the six-month preventive suspension to enable investigators to access documents and possible witnesses.
NFA assistant administrator for operations Lemuel Pagayunan told he hearing the sale of the buffer stocks to alleged favored bidders violated Presidential Decree No. 4, which provides that large volumes of stocks sold through the agency’s central office requires the approval of its council and has to undergo public bidding.
Pagayunan said he started to question the sale of the milled rice after discovering the NFA central offices’ memo to traders, because the stocks are usually sold by provincial or regional offices and the central office.
“If there is no public bidding, the council should approve the disposition,” he told the committee.
Bioco, however, said the regional offices have given the green light for the central office to dispose of the aging stocks. “They make the recommendations, qualification, requirements for those interested to buy. We followed guidelines,” he said.
Rep. Erwin Tulfo (PL, ACT-CIS) said the anomaly is glaring as the buffer stock was sold to private companies instead of government agencies such as Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Bureau of Corrections and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) “where stocks of rice are mostly needed.”
“Sa tingin ko may plano talaga na i-hokus pokus ito, i-mekus-mekus itong mga stock na ito para maibenta sa mga private corporations (I think there’s really a plan to pull a fast one to be able to sell these to private corporations),” he told the committee.
President Marcos Jr. in a recorded interview on Wednesday, said government took “the safe measure of suspending all of those who have been shown to may have been involved in any of these wrongdoings such as the anomalous sale but also the cavalier way in which the procedures that have been set out in the rules have been ignored.”
He also said the government is looking not just into the anomalous sale but also at NFA procedures that were undertaken without proper discussions and approval of the NFA, the Department of Agriculture, and rest of the Cabinet.
Sen. Cynthia Villar yesterday said the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform which she chairs will conduct hearings on the alleged anomalous sale even if Congress is already on a summer break by March 23.
She said her staff members are looking for a “common” time and date of senators so the panel can start the investigation.
Villar said she also wants that the hearing be held jointly with the Blue Ribbon committee, and for the minority bloc to attend because it involves graft and corruption of government officials.
The Senate probe is based on a resolution filed by Sen Imee Marcos. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Raymond Africa
Source Link: https://malaya.com.ph/news_news/sale-of-rice-buffer-stock-above-board/
Recommended for you
