Wednesday, March 05, 2008 City Council to probe NFA rice cartel By Danilo Adoraflor III
COUNCILOR Ian Acenas on Tuesday called for an investigation on the alleged rice cartel at the National Food Authority (NFA), which is believed to be responsible for diverting sacks of cheap rice worth millions of pesos.
Acenas, who heads the Committee on Economic Enterprise, said the City Council has to initiate an investigation since selling of the rice intended for the poor "is a public issue."
"If the accusations are true, then the program of the government to feed the poor has been defeated," Acenas told ABS-CBN TV Patrol.
Grains Retailer Confederation of the Philippines (Grecon) president Helen Cosin blamed the "unsystematic" rice distribution of the NFA allowed the illegal diversion of cheap rice.
What is worse, Ocin said NFA has not imposed safeguards to its rice allocation system, thus allowing unscrupulous traders and corrupt government agency employees to divert rice stocks, re-bagged them and sell them elsewhere at a higher price.
"Since there is no specific number of allotment per retailer on a given time, supply diversion comes in," she said.
Grecon is the nationwide marketing arm of the NFA. On average, each licensed NFA retailer is allocated 50 to 100 bags per week, which are sold in authorized retail outlets at P18.25 per kilo.
But Ocin said the actual quantity of distribution depended on the availability of rice supply at the NFA warehouse in Baloy, Barangay Tablon, this city, although the government agency has a monthly rice allocation matrix for all traders.
Last Monday, Grecon's press conference was rocked by revelations made by local rice trader Emilio Oclarit who said a rice cartel composed of corrupt NFA employees and Grecon members diverted rice intended to be sold at GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) Bigasang Bayan.
Oclarit, who owns a stall in Agora public market, said he benefited from this cartel and was rewarded when he got 33,456 bags of rice.
Like all traders involved with the cartel, Oclarit said he re-bagged the rice and mislabeled them to make it appear as commercial stocks to command a higher price. He said traders also practiced adulteration of mixing NFA rice with commercial rice varieties and later sold them from P25 to P30 a kilo.
Oclarit said he would name all those behind the rice cartel in a proper forum.
Ocin and NFA Employees Association (NFAEA) president Eduardo Bade pointed at each other as responsible for the cartel at the NFA.
Ocin said Oclarit is part of the group with Bade and former NFA Misamis Oriental manager Macario Lagura who are diverting rice stocks from the agency's warehouse.
As proof, Ocin provide journalists with documents showing Oclarit and six other rice traders have received more than their intended monthly rice allocation.
For his part, Bade pointed at Ocin and NFA Northern Mindanao director Alan Borja as responsible.
