NFA sorry for faulty warehouse list

The National Food Authority (NFA) has apologized to Ombudsman Samuel Martires for failing to provide an accurate warehouse list that the Department of Agriculture (DA) requested.

In a letter dated 25 March addressed to Martires, NFA officer-in-charge Larry Lacson explained that the oversight was due to the urgency of the request.

“The undersigned would also like to take this opportunity to convey his apologies on behalf of the agency in the course of submitting the warehouse list as requested by the DA,” Lacson’s letter read.

He added: “The inadvertence in providing the list was mainly due to the urgency of the request and not for anything else,”

Lacson assured Martires of the NFA’s full cooperation with the Ombudsman’s investigation and the prompt submission of required documents.

The NFA also furnished the Office of the Ombudsman with a certification from its Administrative and General Services Department regarding the list of personnel who had been separated from the service due to death or retirement or were currently on study or maternity leave.

The Office of the Ombudsman confirmed to the DAILY TRIBUNE that Martires had received the letter of apology and certification from the NFA.

The submission of the certification stemmed from the errors discovered on the list of respondents submitted to the DA.

The documents were subsequently transmitted to the Office of the Ombudsman during its investigation into the controversial sale of rice buffer stocks.

On 14 March, Martires lifted the suspension order on 23 NFA employees, including National Capital Region employees, based on the investigators’ recommendation.

The Ombudsman earlier flagged irregularities in selling 75,000 bags of “aging” and “deteriorating” rice buffer stocks to private rice traders.

The Ombudsman slapped at least 141 NFA officials with six-month preventive suspensions after it discovered that the rice supplies — which were allegedly re-bagged by the traders and sold at a higher price — were still fit for human consumption.