Pangilinan orders probe into NFA rice diversion

Presidential Adviser on Food Security Francis Pangilinan (left) inspects rice and repacking equipment recovered from warehouse raided by NBI agents in Leganes, Iloilo. Nestor P. Burgos Jr./INQUIRER VISAYAS

LEGANES, Iloilo, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino’s adviser on food security ordered Friday an investigation into the possible involvement of National Food Authority personnel in the illegal diversion and repacking of NFA rice in Iloilo.

Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan and NFA Administrator Arthur Juan said NFA provincial offices in Iloilo and Capiz would be investigated after trucks in a warehouse used for illegal repacking of NFA rice were found to have transported rice from NFA warehouses in the two provinces.

“If [the NFA rice] is supposed to be for retailers, there is no reason why it should be here,” Juan told reporters at a warehouse that has been seized by the government in Barangay Napnod in this town, about 11 kilometers north of Iloilo City.

Presidential Adviser on Food Security Francis Pangilinan (left) inspects rice and repacking equipment recovered from warehouse raided by NBI agents in Leganes, Iloilo. Nestor P. Burgos Jr./INQUIRER VISAYAS

National Bureau of Investigation agents raided the warehouse early Thursday and recovered 1,047 bags of rice repacked into unlabeled sacks.

Pangilinan and Juan inspected the recovered rice from the warehouse owned by Dennis de Vicente, an accredited transporter and retailer of NFA rice.

Pangilinan said the NFA rice, which is sold at P32 per kilo, was being repacked by hoarders and illegal traders into unlabeled bags and sold to the commercial market at higher prices of up to P48 per kilo.