Rice reserves sold to ‘predetermined’ buyers — Ombudsman
THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered 139 officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) led by Administrator Roderico Bioco placed under six months preventive suspension based on administrative charges over the alleged anomalous sale of rice buffer stocks in January to favored traders.
A 27-page directive signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on March 1 was addressed to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. for immediate implementation.
“This Office finds sufficient grounds to preventively suspend all of the … respondent NFA officials and employees considering that there is strong evidence of their guilt,” the Ombudsman said.
Aside from Bioco, suspended were assistant administrator for operations John Robert Hermano, 12 regional managers, 27 branch managers, and 98 warehouse supervisors throughout the country.
Among the charges leveled against the respondents were grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service which, if proven, will mean their removal from government service with additional penalties of disqualification from employment in public office and cancellation of benefits.
“Their continued stay in office may prejudice the investigation of the case filed against them. The said preventive suspension is imperative to preserve documents and evidence pertaining to this case which respondents have control and custody,” the Ombudsman noted.
Tiu Laurel said he will temporarily take over the NFA leadership. To avoid service disruptions while the investigation is ongoing, he added, those second-in-command to several dozen suspended officials will also temporarily take charge.
The complaint stemmed from an inquiry of the Department of Agriculture into the reported sale of over 200,000 bags of rice to selected buyers in several batches in the first month of 2024.
Martires said the anti-corruption body launched an investigation into the transactions motu proprio based on its powers under Republic Act 6770 or the Ombudsman Act of 1989.
The Ombudsman, in its order, said the thousands of bags of grains sold were intended as buffer stocks or reserves held in the event of shortage in the local market or held for emergency distribution in calamity-stricken areas.
The rice reserves were allegedly sold to “predetermined traders/millers/buyers at low prices and without the approval of the NFA Council.”
Other than Bioco, also covered by the suspension order were NFA regional managers, branch managers, and warehouse officers.
“Respondents used their official functions by unilaterally selecting the commercial rice traders/millers/buyers in the disposition of NFA’s alleged aging rice stocks in utter disregard or violation of existing guidelines including the NFA Code of Corporate Governance and the Revised Operating Procedure on Sale of NFA Commodities Through Market Determined Pricing,” the Ombudsman said.
It added that the suspension order is “immediately executory, notwithstanding any motion, appeal, or petition that may be filed by respondents seeking relief.”
Tiu Laurel said the preventive suspension “would allow the Ombudsman to secure all documents and other evidence relating, but not limited to, the sale of rice buffer stocks that is greatly disadvantageous to the government.”
He also said the officers-in-charge are ordered to fully cooperate with the Office of the Ombudsman and the DA’s internal investigators, and provide all documents needed to quickly complete the probe.
“We intend to dig deep and welcome those who would come forward to assist us in probing the NFA… The Ombudsman and the DA are coordinating on this investigation that could go back years, at least as far back as 2019,” Tiu Laurel added.
He said the DA has created its own panel of investigators which are mostly personnel from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, to avoid any involvement and untoward biases.
“… We cannot discuss more than what we have said about this issue today since the Ombudsman and DA investigators are still ongoing. Rest assured, once we have the results, we will inform the public,” Tiu Laurel said.
SENATE PROBE
Sen. Imee Marcos sought a Senate investigation on the irregular “disposition and sale” of the NFA repackaged rice stocks.
In Senate Resolution No. 940, Marcos said the Senate should investigate the “highly-suspicious” sale of 75,000 bags of rice worth P93.75 million to only two traders — G4 Rice Mill San Miguel Corporation and NBK San Pedro Rice Mill — as the chamber needs to thoroughly review the NFA’s mandate which is crucial to the rice supply in the country.
She said the NFA mandate, under the Rice Tariffication Law, has been limited to providing emergency buffer rice stock to be sourced exclusively from local farmers.
In a letter complaint sent to the Office of the President last month, NFA assistant administrator for operations Lemuel Pagayunan alleged Bioco allowed the sale of “treated and fit for consumption” rice stocks to G4 Rice Mill San Miguel Corporation and NBK San Pedro Rice Mill, which were labelled “deteriorating or aging” NFA rice.
Pagayunan cited a memorandum issued by Hermano who instructed that the stocks be repacked in containers without NFA markings prior to selling them as commercial rice.
Pagayunan said no other company was allowed to participate in the bidding for the NFA rice stocks.
“There is also no showing that the amount paid by G4 and NBK was the best price offered. In short, the buyers were pre-selected by Administrator Bioco and RM Uy,” the resolution said.
In a separate statement, Marcos said the NFA has “completely lost its way” by selling the rice stocks to two traders when they should have been for use in the country amid a cutback in global rice supply.
“The Philippines is now the world’s largest rice importer and the dire market situation today will only worsen in the coming months,” she said, citing El Niño and the rice-exporting countries prioritizing their domestic needs.
Marcos said that despite NFA’s mandate, the agency has repeatedly fallen short of its required buffer stock and been unable to cope with higher farmgate process of palay which rose to as high as P27 per kilo last year.
Although the price of palay went down to P23, the NFA earlier pegged its capacity to subsidize local farmers at only P17 to P19 per kilo, Marcos said. — With Jed Macapagal and Raymond Africa