The Department of Agriculture said, on Tuesday, that the National Food Authority would still function as mandated as it has enough people to take over the responsibilities of over 100 employees suspended following reports of improper rice sales to certain private traders.

In a televised interview, DA spokesperson Asec. Arnel de Mesa said that among the 139 suspended NFA officials, there are 99 warehouse supervisors, 26 branch managers, and 12 regional managers, including NFA administrator Roderico Bioco and assistant administrator of operations John Robert Hermano.

He said that following the suspension, the DA immediately met with NFA officials to ensure its uninterrupted service.

“Bagama’t ganito karami iyong nasuspinde ay mayroon namang enough na personnel pa ang NFA, iyon ang sinisigurado natin, para iyong mga papalit ay magkaroon din ng kapangyarihan or authority para iyong mga bodega natin, iyong ating mga warehouses ay mananatili in operation sa pamimili sa ating mga magsasaka,” he said.

(Although there have been many suspended, the NFA still has enough personnel; that's what we are making sure of so that those who will replace them will also have the power or authority for our warehouses; our warehouses will remain in operation for buying from our farmers.)

He added: “Kasi anihan na ngayon eh, gusto nating masigurado na tuluy-tuloy iyong pagbili; mayroong pondo na nilaan nga iyong General Appropriations Act ng 2024 para mamili iyong NFA ng mga tuyo at basang palay.”

(Because it's now the start of harvest, we want to make sure that acquisitions are continuous; there is a fund allocated by the General Appropriations Act of 2024 for the NFA to buy dry and wet rice.)

Currently, there are more than 1,000 NFA employees and officers, including those from central and field offices, according to De Mesa, explaining that they will be appointed to take charge as regional and branch managers and warehouse supervisors as DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. temporarily serves as the NFA administrator.

De Mesa added that an emergency NFA council meeting will be held on Wednesday and that the NFA's service to Filipino farmers is still continuous, especially since the harvest of palay started, as well as the buying of NFA to the farmers.

NFA’s function

According to De Mesa, since the passing of the Rice Tariffication Law in 2019, the only function of the NFA is buffer stocking in case of emergencies and disasters that would support and aid local government units and national agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Office of the Civil Defense, and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

“Itong buffer stock na ito ay dapat bibilhin o kukuhanin ng ating National Food Authority sa mga lokal na magsasaka. So inalis na sa NFA ang iyong function niya na mag-import at inalis na rin iyong function niya na directly magbenta sa mga retailers natin. Iyon ang pangunahing mandato ng National Food Authority,” he explained.

(This buffer stock must be bought or taken by our National Food Authority from local farmers. So his function to import has been removed from the NFA, and his function to sell directly to our retailers has also been removed. That is the main mandate of the National Food Authority.)

“Kinakailangan ay mayroong 15 to 30 days na stock ang NFA; katumbas nito ay almost 350,000 metric tons na standby na buffer stock ng NFA.”

(NFA needs to have 15 to 30 days of stock, equivalent to almost 350,000 metric tons of NFA's standby buffer stock.)

On Monday, the DA implemented the preventive suspension order of the Ombudsman against 139 NFA officials and employees after reports surfaced the past week about allegedly authorizing the sale of milled rice stored in the agency’s warehouse for P25 a kilo without bidding and after acquiring the grains in palay form for P23 per kilo.

De Mesa said that the rice sale probe aims to examine it as far back as 2019 at least.

“Sinisiguro din ng ating kalihim na babalikan simula 2019, hindi lang itong transaction na nagawa simula noong November last year at na-consummate nitong January lamang. So babalikan po ng mga imbestigador iyong mga nangyari hanggang 2019,” he said.

(Our secretary also assures that it will go back as far as 2019. This is not the only transaction that was done since November last year and was consummated only this January, so the investigators will go back to what happened until 2019.)