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Tuesday, March 11, 2008
President orders filing of raps v. NFA officials
By Froilan Gallardo
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday ordered the filing of criminal charges against officers of the National Food Authority (NFA) in Cagayan de Oro City for diverting stocks from her rice program, which is intended for the "poorest of the poor."
Arroyo said charges would be filed against NFA Provincial Director Macario Lagura and traders of the Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines (Grecon).
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
This, after they connive in diverting thousands of sacks of rice intended for GMA's Bigasang Bayan, a government program that sells cheap rice from Vietnam and Thailand for the poor.
"There will be no sacred cow. This is one problem that we should solve. This part of the culture corruption at the NFA should be stopped," Arroyo told participants of the 4th Mindanao Coop Summit Monday.
Arroyo however did not specify the number of NFA officials who will be included in the charge sheet.
But Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said government lawyers will file theft cases against Grecon traders involved in diverting sacks of rice from the NFA warehouse in Baloy, Barangay Tablon, this city.
"The President is very angry and furious when she learned about this. The program is her way of giving to the poor and they are stealing from it," Yap said.
Yap said the traders took advantage of the program, which allows them to buy quality rice at cheap prices. They then sell it at high prices after re-bagging and mixing it with commercial rice, he added.
"The President is incensed that these traders have taken advantage of her pro-poor program," he said.
Yap admitted that the diversion at the NFA station in Cagayan de Oro City is "not an isolated case." He said they also found irregularities in other NFA stations in other parts of the country.
According to Yap, the diversion was discovered because the present set of checks and balances at the NFA had "worked."
A Grecon trader, Emilio Oclarit, admitted he received 33,456 sacks of rice in 2007 and like most traders, sold them at the commercial price between P25 to P30 per kilogram.
NFA rice, on the other hand, is sold at less than P20 per kilogram.
Oclarit, who owned a small stall in Agora public market, is supposed to get 50 to 100 sacks of rice a week.
During a Grecon press conference last February 3, Oclarit said the traders colluded with "unscrupulous" NFA employees.
Lagura meanwhile could not be reached for comment as of this writing Monday.
Vice Mayor Vicente Emano, for his part, called for an investigation on the NFA mess, saying that poor residents suffered the most in the diversion of rice stocks.
He said the council should not be silent on the controversy. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (March 11, 2008 issue)
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