House probe on irregular sale of NFA rice set on March 7

MANILA, Philippines — The House agriculture committee will conduct an investigation on Thursday into the alleged irregular sale of rice by officials of the National Food Authority (NFA), who are also currently being probed on allegations of corruption.

Rep. Mark Enverga (Quezon), committee chair, said on Wednesday that Speaker Martin Romualdez has directed the committee to investigate the disadvantageous sale of 75,000 sacks of deteriorating or aging rice by the NFA.

In total, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said that the worth of the sacks of rice sold is P93 million.

“We filed a resolution last week, but unfortunately, due to the gravity of work here in Congress, hindi po na-refer sa amin yet. That’s why he (Speaker Romualdez) instructed us to do it in a moto proprio manner,” Enverga said.

Earlier this week, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of 139 NFA officials for their alleged involvement in the sale of rice buffer stocks at a price disadvantageous to the government. This includes NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco.

The DA has also ordered the investigation of NFA officials connected to the controversy, with Agriculture Chief Francisco Tiu-Laurel encouraging them to take a temporary leave of absence to allow investigators to do their work.

Sen. Imee Marcos has filed a Senate resolution calling for a similar probe into the incident.