MANILA, Philippines?A coalition of farmers and non-governmental organizations urged senior officials of the National Food Authority and Department of Agriculture to reveal the people responsible for alleged anomalies in the importation of rice under the previous administration, unless they prefer to own the irregularities and get the culprits off the hook.
?The government has a plateful of problems to deal with in the agriculture agencies. It has been a steady source of corruption and politicking while the farmers were left to fend for themselves as the agriculture sector slides down the pits,? said the Rice Watch and Action Network (R1).
In a statement, R1 lead convenor Jessica Reyes-Cantos urged Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo to prosecute the architects of the alleged rice importation anomalies.
?If the current administration fails to pin down the masterminds, how can we expect the agencies to reform? The grand theft of the people?s resources has to stop and give the farmers the justice they deserve. The farmers have been at the mercy of the traders? low buying price while the NFA that is supposed to support the farmers with higher palay price was busy shopping imported rice from elsewhere,? Cantos said.
The group said there are succeeding auction and bid notices for buyers of 6,000 metric tons of rice in NFA warehouses in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija; 21,000 bags of imported rice in a warehouse in Valenzuela; and 21,000 bags of rice donated by the United States Department of Agriculture currently stored in the NFA warehouse in Balagtas, Bulacan.
?We find more reason to exact accountability from the DA particularly for 2009 and 2010 when it got a substantially higher budget than their allocation in 2007,? she said
?Early this year, the NFA went on a shopping binge, importing a record of 2.45 million MT of rice instead of gradual importation throughout the year. Reports indicated that 1.7 million MT of these have arrived. No wonder the NFA?s warehouses are full of rice stocks,? Cantos said.
R1 also called on the new administration to evaluate the current strategies of the Department of Agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency targets with Frisco Malabanan, the incumbent director of the Rice Program setting his eyes anew on subsidizing hybrid rice technology despite its failure to sustain rice productivity.
?Only in the Philippines will you find an agency that continues to enjoy resources while failing to achieve its purpose. Despite a huge P10 billion allotment for the department?s Rice Program and P17.5 billion for irrigation, the over-all rice production in 2009 still failed to meet its target,? Cantos noted.
