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Thursday, June 12, 2008
4 officials, 8 traders charged for rice mess
By Annabelle L. Ricalde
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Four officials and eight traders were charged for bribery and falsification of documents related to diverting and re-bagging thousands of bags of government-subsidized rice in this city.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed cases against Alan Borja, former National Food Authority (NFA) regional director; Macario Lagura Jr., former NFA Misamis Oriental manager; and NFA operations officers Bernardo Dagoc and Yolando Abesamis.
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Other respondents include traders Helen Osin, Sancho Cabanos, Teodora Rodriguez, Emilio Oclarit, Vincent Grace Yap, Rufu Cagande, Virginia Paug, and Joseph Maquidato.
Osin is the president of Confederation of Grain Retailers Association of the Philippines (Grecon) while Maquidato is Grecon President of Gingoog City Public Market.
NBI Regional Director Jose Justo Yap said these traders allegedly conspired with the NFA officials in withdrawing 206,661 bags of rice from the NFA warehouse in Baloy and diverting it to commercial rice.
The NBI used as basis the five-page investigation report made by its Task Force on Anti-Rice Hoarding dated May 28, 2008 and signed by NBI Director Nestor Mantaring.
But Osin, for her part, said she has to receive a copy of the report or of the charges the NBI is intending to file against her in the courts.
She denied she was part of the conspiracy to divert rice from the NFA warehouse.
"Wala man daw mi kaso, mismo si Fiscal Graciano Gamotin ang nagsulti ana kay tua man siya sa Manila ug gihangyo nako nga susihon didto sa DOJ ug NBI (There was no case filed against me. (City) Fiscal Graciano Gamotin told me this because he is in Manila right now. I asked him a favor to look at the DOJ and NBI)," Osin said.
She said Gamotin would secure a certification from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and NBI clearing her of any charges.
Osin said what she got from the NFA were the normal grains allocations she have as an NFA grain retailer.
"Natural nga niabot ana ka kadaghan sa bags of rice ang akong na-withdraw kay from June to December man (It is no surprise that the bags of rice withdrawn was of that number as it was from June to December," she said.
Osin said that until now, the NFA has entrusted her in selling the grains in Cogon public market.
"I have nothing to hide. I sold all the grains I got from the NFA at the correct price and never diverted it," Osin said.
She pointed out that of the eight traders, Vincent Yap and Oclarit are not Grecon members.
Last March, Oclarit admitted during a press conference that he received 33,456 bags of rice and sold them as commercial rice.
In the same NBI report, Mantaring said the four NFA officials -- Borja, Lagura, Dagoc, and Abesamis -- "unlawfully authorized the excessive releases of NFA rice to the eight traders."
"There was a glaring disparity between the targeted sales volume for June to December 2007," he said.
Mantaring said a financial audit found that Osin got 61,250 bags; Oclarit, 50,743 bags; Vincent, 47,810 bags; Cabanos, 11,880 bags; Rodriguez, 10,070 bags;
Maquidato, 9,740 bags; Cagande, 7,794 bags; and Paug, 7,475 bags.
He said more than 323,306 bags were withdrawn from the NFA warehouse on that period.
"The remaining 116,645 bags were withdrawn by 38 other accredited retailers," the report said.
Mantarin said Lagura and the other NFA officials admitted during their investigation that they received "monetary considerations" from the traders in exchange for the excessive withdrawals.
The report said Osin allegedly admitted she gave Lagura P10,000 every time the NFA official entertains visitors.
"Si Director Borja ay hindi nanghingi nga parang ugali na talaga yon. Pero si Manager Lagura ay nanghingi pag may bisita and nagbibigay ako ng P10,000 to P15,000 depende sa bilang ng bisita ng opisina (Director Borja has never asked anything from me, but I gave Manager Lagura P10,000 to P15,000, depending on the number of visitors in his office)," Mantaring quoted Osin's sworn statement.
Mantaring said Dagoc and Abesamis allegedly falsified public documents to facilitate the withdrawals of the rice from the warehouse. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (June 12, 2008 issue)
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