Dalawa pang opisyal ng NFA, sinuspinde ng Ombudsman dahil sa umano'y patagong pagbebenta ng bigas...
Dalawa pang opisyal ng NFA, sinuspinde ng Ombudsman dahil sa umano'y patagong pagbebenta ng bigas sa traders
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00:00 In the ongoing investigation into the successful sale of rice,
00:05 additional officers were suspended from their positions.
00:09 This is what Clay Zelford Hilla reported.
00:11 Two more National Food Authority officers were suspended by Ombudsman
00:18 in front of the investigation into the illegal sale of NFE rights
00:23 to their fellow negotiators who did not pass the bidding.
00:27 Among them, the new officer in charge of NFA,
00:31 Piolito Santos,
00:33 and Jonathan Yazon,
00:34 acting department manager of the agency.
00:37 They will be added to the 138 NFA members
00:42 who were first suspended by Ombudsman
00:45 after being involved in a controversy.
00:48 For now, the secretary is again the current administrator.
00:53 However, because he was on a trip with our president,
00:56 he assigned Director Larry Lackson,
00:59 Director for, before being appointed as Deputy Administrator
01:04 of the National Food Authority.
01:06 Until 2019, the DA will be involved in the backtracking investigation.
01:11 That's why it's possible that there are more names to be added to the list in the next few days.
01:16 It's possible. It depends on the progress of the investigation
01:21 of the internal audit, of the independent review panel
01:27 created by our secretary and of course by Ombudsman.
01:30 Our secretary really wants to see who is really guilty and who is not.
01:37 The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc.
01:41 is in charge of the backtracking of the NFA members.
01:44 The regional directors and supervisors were all suspended.
01:49 Our fear is that where the farmer will go.
01:53 The farmers will be approved in the regions.
01:57 They are all suspended.
02:01 NFA will have to function as it is because farmers will run away
02:05 if the traders are selling rice.
02:09 The DA's assurance.
02:11 The buying of rice is continuous.
02:13 We remember when the suspension came out,
02:16 about 97 farmers were suspended and their warehouses were padlocked.
02:23 That's why there were immediate replacements.
02:27 In order to prevent the DA from erasing some of the negotiators
02:32 instead of giving the needs of some government agencies,
02:36 the DA will proceed with the NFA Council meeting
02:40 to prioritize and meet the needs of relief operation and programs of the agencies and local governments.
02:49 In order to avoid what happened in the past,
02:52 we need to look at the real mandate of the NFA.
02:58 Its primary goal is to meet the needs of disaster risk agencies that respond to calamities.
03:08 The disposition of aging rice and rice should still be needed,
03:13 but it should go through, for example, the auction.
03:17 The independent body is also looking to conduct a lab analysis on rice
03:24 because of the issue of the old and new,
03:27 even if the condition of the rice is still good,
03:30 to be sold to the negotiators.
03:33 The DA's target is to increase the buying price of rice,
03:37 from P19 to P23,
03:39 the recurring procurement price of rice to the farmers.
03:43 In the face of the danger that the NFA's rice buffer stock will not be able to save,
03:49 because the local rice is now expensive to buy.
03:53 They will really have a hard time now because the fresh harvest is only P24 to P24.50.
04:00 The government's buffer stock needs a number of days.
04:07 They don't have buffer stocks.
04:11 That's what we're seeing.
04:13 That will be the problem of the NFA.
04:18 All of this is about how to ensure that the NFA can meet the price.
04:25 Because like last year, the NFA only bought a little
04:29 because the traders bought a lot.
04:33 But at the same time, we also need to balance it
04:35 because if the farm gate is too expensive,
04:38 the price of rice will definitely be expensive.
04:41 So there are careful balances.
04:43 Kalei zalpardiliya for Pambansang TV in the new Philippines!