MANILA – At least three senators opposed the planned abolition of the National Food Authority (NFA) Council.
They suggested alternatives to taking down the interagency body – including the removal of the NFA administrator.
President Rodrigo Duterte directed the abolition of the 18-man council for its alleged failure to address the rice supply problem.
Only a law and not any executive decree can abolish the NFA Council, Francis Pangilinan said.
“Abolishing the NFA Council turns a blind eye to allegations of corruption and condones incompetence and mismanagement by the administrator,” said Pangilinan.
NFA Administrator Jason Aquino should be removed and replaced instead, the senator said.
“[Aquino] and not the NFA Council should be removed from the public management of the country’s rice supply,” he said.
Malacañang clarified that Duterte only wanted the state grains agency to be transferred under the Office of the President.
The NFA Council was created under Presidential Decree 4 to serve as a watchdog against corruption in rice.
It should “guard against arbitrary or self-serving acts of the executive branch,” said Pangilinan, former chief of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization.
Agencies composing the NFA Council were the National Economic and Development Authority, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance, and Department of Trade and Industry, among others.
“As we see it, the NFA Council … acts as a check on the NFA administrator, who is currently embroiled in corruption and incompetence issues,” said Pangilinan.
He stressed that the Duterte administration should focus on reducing hunger.
“Gutom ang dapat i-abolish, hindi ang NFA Council. Many of our poor are women and children, farmers and fishers. Sila ang nagdidildil ng asin. Maling-mali ito,” he said.
Meanwhile Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said abolishing the NFA Council would remove safeguards to corruption and abuse in the NFA.
“Without the NFA Council, the orchestrators of this rice crisis will continue to make questionable decisions with impunity,” said Aquino.
He added, “Magugutom at mananabik pa rin sa kanin ang pamilyang Pilipino hangga’t patuloy ang maling pamamahala sa NFA at hindi naibabalik ang 15-day buffer stock.”
For his part, Ralph Recto said the government should adopt a “cost-effective, pro-consumer and farmer-empowering” policy that would boost rice production in the country.
“This administration cannot adopt a program that is coterminous with its term, one that expires by 2022,” said Recto. “Its vision should not be myopic but strategic. Otherwise, this problem on rice becomes a seasonal challenge that will be addressed by band-aid cures.”
He added: “Wala sa NFA lahat ng solusyon, nasa produksyon at isang policy ng wastong rice tarrification.”/PN
