More than 20 of the 141 personnel of the National Food Authority got off scot-free on the six-month preventive suspension order by the Ombudsman in connection with the anomalous buffer rice sale.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Thursday said they lifted the suspension order on 23 NFA warehouse supervisors, including those in the National Capital Region, after graft probers found a blunder on the list submitted to his office by the Department of Agriculture based on the NFA's data.

"If there is an error in that list, that's not our fault. I have no idea who duped us," Martires lamented. "After conducting an initial investigation by our investigators, they recommended that the preventive suspension be lifted on the warehouse supervisors in Iloilo, Antique, Cabanatuan, and NCR. That's about 23."

Prior to the 23, Martires said they also withdrew the suspension order against one NFA employee.

A separate investigation is also underway to identify the person behind the erroneous list, according to the Ombudsman.

"The only question we have is, if that is the list of the El Niño task force, then why did the staff members include the names of those who had already passed away? What's the purpose? Are you fooling the secretary of Agriculture?" Martires asserted.

At least 141 NFA officials, including its administrator, Roderico Bioco, and newly designated NFA officer-in-charge administrator Piolito Santos, were slapped with a six-month preventive suspension by the Ombudsman earlier this month over the improper sale of 75,000 bags of "aging" and "deteriorating" rice buffer stock to private rice traders.

The Ombudsman flagged irregularities in the sale after it found that the supplies, which were allegedly re-bagged by the traders and sold the same at a higher price, were discovered to be still fit for human consumption.

Last week, the House committee on agriculture and food kicked off its probe into the botched rice sale wherein it unearthed that not only 75,000 bags were sold to private firms but over 150,000.

Laurel, who temporarily takes charge of the NFA, vowed not to tolerate any form of corruption within the DA and to hold those involved in the anomalous sale accountable.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who once headed the DA, had also pledged that the government would not merely look into the improper sale but also examine how it was executed without the approval of concerned agencies.