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Thursday, April 10, 2008
Rice traders deny role in North Cotabato scam
By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- After they shunned media interviews because of "bad" publicity when their group was dragged into the questionable withdrawals of imported rice from the warehouse of the National Food Authority (NFA) in North Cotabato, grain retailers in the province finally denied that they connived to snitch NFA rice.
In a manifesto issued on Tuesday, the Grains Retailers Confederation (Grecon) denied they were part of a "conspiracy" led by former NFA provincial manager Anthony Mariano Bernad.
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Grecon is one of the biggest groups of rice traders in North Cotabato that serves as a partner non-government organization (NGO) of the NFA in its rice distribution program.
Bernad was sacked following his alleged involvement in the "dubious" release of more than 21,000 bags of imported rice from the NFA warehouse here from March 10 to 14 this year.
The manifesto signed by 17 Grecon officials from at least 17 towns in North Cotabato said confederation members did not receive such bags of NFA rice.
After Bernad figured in the controversy two weeks ago, his office released to media a copy of the procurement of rice at the NFA office where Grecon members allegedly received thousands of bags of imported rice, among them Grecon-North Cotabato provincial secretary Sheila Estrada from Kabacan town.
The data from the NFA showed Estrada received 3,060 bags of NFA rice from March 6 to 13.
Estrada, however, denied having received a single bag of imported rice from the NFA.
Estrada said she and other Grecon members were asked to submit to the NFA office their retail passbook sometime in February this year.
"Bernad has invoked his position as the manager and that's the reason why these Grecon members assented to his demand, although they were a bit hesitant. They believe such procedure was regular and it was a new policy of the NFA," said the manifesto.
The rice traders were also surprised to know that the withdrawals that they allegedly made "were already beyond our capacity."
They were shocked to know that Bernad was the one who contacted the buyers for them.
"At that time, we were already suspicious that anomalous transactions were taking place. But Bernad was insistent. Despite our protests, we were left with no choice," they said.
Grecon said while the NFA recorded the alleged withdrawals, it cannot present any document that the traders received such stocks.
"These unscrupulous acts demonstrated by Bernad made us anxious because these may result in rice shortage in our locality," they stressed.
Despite the anomaly, Grecon is not keen on filing charges against Bernad and the NFA.
"We will leave the work to our government officials," they explained.
Since last week, the Provincial Board (PB) in North Cotabato has already started investigating Bernad and the office.
It has not yet released results of its investigation.
In a meeting with the municipal mayors in North Cotabato, NFA Cotabato warehouse manager Antonio Peralta noted that in March this year, the NFA registered more than 260 percent of its target in terms of rice distribution.
Peralta said the NFA has reached far, far beyond its target for March. They were expecting only to distribute 15,639 bags of imported rice, but recorded a release of 40,884 bags last March.
This proves, Peralta said, that the province is not experiencing rice shortage. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (April 10, 2008 issue)
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