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MANILA, Philippines — The Senate finance subcommittee deferred and later on approved the 2023 budget of the National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday.
During the 10-hour hearing, Senator Francis Tolentino initially moved to defer the NFA’s P12-billion budget after its administrator Judy Carol Dansal failed to explain their subsidy request.
Sub-panel chairperson Senator Cynthia Villar and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III raised queries on the agency’s budget.
Villar, who asked who proposed the additional amount in the NFA budget, noted that NFA is a “very expensive agency to maintain.”
According to Dansal, the P12 billion will allow a rice buffer stock for 12 days for the entire country.
Villar questioned: “Why do you have to offer the entire country? Because not the entire country is dependent on the NFA.
“Ano ba dapat i-cover ng NFA? Katulad naming hindi kami dapat i-cover ng NFA ‘di ba? Ang mahihirap lang ay ico-cover ng NFA.”
(What should the NFA cover? The NFA should cover only the poor people, right?)
Dansal replied they offer the buffer stocks during calamities.
After addressing the senators’ inquiries, Tolentino moved for the budget approval.
“I am now moving for the approval of the budget of the NFA and the same shall be submitted to the plenary… without prejudice to any further clarificatory questions during the plenary,” Tolentino said.
The NFA budget was approved but decreased from P12 billion to P9 billion.
—with reports from Joshua Emmanuel Go, trainee