CEBU CITY— Senator Imee Marcos is wary about proposals to allow the National Food Au- thority (NFA) to directly import rice and sell the food staple directly to public markets due to persistent allegations of overimportation, overpricing, smuggling, missing barge-loads of rice, kickbacks, favoritism and other types of questionable and corrupt practices against the agency through the years.
“Takot na takot ako… kinakabahan ako sa posisyon ng administrasyon na palawakin pa ang kapangyarihan ng NFA. Nakalimutan na ba natin? Marso pa lang yun, na-suspende ang 139 employees” Marcos said in a media interview (NET 25) Wednesday, May 8, on pending measures before the House of Representatives to restore some of NFA’s functions as part of government efforts to address surging rice prices.
She added, “Pambihira naman yang NFA na yan! Hindi na tumama… na- pakapalpak… parang nakailang appointment na dyan. Ibig sabihin, may problema talaga. So as much as I hate to admit it, dysfunctional na yang sistema ng NFA.”
Marcos cited the 6-month preventive suspension meted by the Office of the Ombudsman in March on 139 NFA officials, led by NFA administrator Roderico Bioco, due to the allegedly disadvantageous sale of rice buffer stocks. In a matter of days, Bioco’s temporary replacement, Piolito Santos, and acting department manager for operations, Jonathan Yazon, were also suspended.
This recent scandal involved the alleged sale of 75,000 bags of fresh emergency buffer stocks misdeclared as “deteriorating or aging” to 2 fa- vored traders without public bidding and without the NFA Council’s approval. The sale amounted to P93.75 million, where the buffer stock was sold at P25 a kilo when the market price was at P70 a kilo.
“Hindi na natigil ang kalokohan sa NFA. Aminin ko, may sentimental at- tachment ako sa NFA ‘pagkat yun ay itinatag, binuo ng tatay ko. At noong panahon na yun, para naman nagwo-work siya kasama ng Kadiwa, ng FTI (Food Terminal Incorporated), isang buong sistema siya ng buying and distribution. Maski yung pag-i-i-stock, yung buffer supply ng Pilipinas, wala naman silang mabili,” Marcos said.
The senator lamented the NFA’s poor performance and corruption-laden public image, as she noted her father, the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, established the agency “to strengthen national strategy for the integrated growth and development of the food industry to insure adequate and continuous supply at reasonable prices.”
The Philippines achieved rice self-sufficiency in the late 1970s and was exporting rice in the early 1980s as President Marcos Sr.’s Green Revolu- tion accelerated irrigation, propagated various varieties of rice, and intro- duced new fertilizers—resulting in lower rice prices.
In 1990, the agency found itself in hot water after a barge-load of rice mysteriously disappeared. 5 years later, during the 1995 rice crisis, farm- ers and consumers groups demanded the ouster of agriculture and NFA officials.
Another similar crisis rocked the country in 2007 up to 2008, where’s NFA’s actions and policies were seen to have contributed to the increase in rice prices.
The World Rice Statistics and Food and Agriculture Organi- zation then noted that despite being the 8th largest producer of rice at 16.8 million metric tons (MT), the Philippines was also the world’s top rice importer. The dismantling of the NFA was even proposed by the Commission on Agricultural Modernization (Agricom).
In a policy brief in 2010, the Senate Economic Planning Office noted how “[t]he NFA’s twin mandate of price stabilization and food security has cost the government billions of pesos in losses over the past few decades.”
The brief further stated, the NFA was “consistently one of the top fiscal drainers” as it cited that the agency contributed P27.03 billion or 10.8% of the P251.5 billion consolidated public sector deficit for 2009.
A 2008 Asian Development Bank (ADB) study also found the NFA rice dis- tribution program suffered from both “substantial under coverage and leakage problems.”
In 2014, the agency was accused of questionable rice importations, in- cluding the government-to-government importation of Vietnam rice which was allegedly overpriced by P450 million.
In 2017, top NFA officials were accused of turning the agency into a “cash cow.” During the 2017-2018 rice crisis, top cabinet officials traded barbs over rice supply and importation, while a state of calamity was declared in Zamboanga City due to the rice shortage.
In view of these scandals, Senator Marcos suggests government-to-gov- ernment importation sans the NFA amid the current rice “emergency” the country is facing. She also proposes the creation of a presidential com- mission on rice sufficiency and extending by 6 years or up to 2031 the annual P10 billion Rice Fund (Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund) to support farmers, as provided for under the Rice Tariffication Law.
Marcos also stressed the need to resort to contract farming based on es- timated cost of production, where the minimum price of rice is agreed upon even before planting begins, and for the local government unit (LGU) to buy directly from farmers during the harvest season. “Kailangan may agreed upon minimum price. Kausapin ang magsasaka, ano ba tala- ga ang cost? Kasi ang tunay na cost ng production, lomobo na dahil nga sa abono, krudo, at ngayon tubig pa.
So talagang matindi.” “Mag-usap tayo, magkano ba talaga ang cost of production? Magkasundo sa minimum price. So ‘wag na yung bente, trenta [pesos]; benta na ang pag-usapan. At ibenta sa LGU, coop at iba pa; bago pa nang taniman, magkasundo na. Parang outsourced o contract farming ang labas,” she explained.
The senator also echoed her call to cut out the middlemen as farmers continue to lament the huge disparity between farmgate and retail prices.
“Makikita mo naman sa presyo, bagsak na bagsak ang presyo sa bukid, sa farmgate. Pagdating sa palengke, papaano umabot ng P60 yun? Tala- gang labis labis naman ang kinikita noong nasa gitna, noong middleman natin. Ano bang ginagawa ng trader at byahero? Sobrang yaman naman nila,” Marcos noted.
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