SIX years after it was first raised, a P2 billion bribery issue involving former National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jason Aquino has been revived in the House of Representatives.
During a hearing of the Quinta Committee on the continued rise in the prices of basic commodities, lead chair Albay Rep. Joey Salceda brought up the issue, which dates back to 2018.
Salceda pointed out that no one has been held accountable for alleged bribery in obtaining import permits or for the NFA’s failure to undercut cartels by diverting rice procurement funds to loan payments.
In a privilege speech in September 2018, Senator Risa Hontiveros exposed a “tara” system within the NFA, where officials allegedly charged rice importers P100 to P150 per sack of imported rice.
With Aquino’s administration importing one million metric tons, equivalent to 20 million sacks of rice, the total “tara” collected could have reached P2 billion, based on the P100 “tara” alone.
This figure does not include the entrance fees that the NFA reportedly charged rice importers for obtaining certificates of eligibility and import permits. However, this issue seems to have been forgotten.
Salceda questioned what happened to the charges that then Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government would file in September 2018. He instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to report to the House whether they had indeed investigated Aquino.
Salceda also directed the NFA to submit a list of individuals and corporations granted rice import permits from 2016 to 2018. The committee also requested the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to report the total metric tons of rice that entered the country during that period.
The lawmaker issued these directives after their initial investigation revealed serious price manipulation in the agricultural sector during the first two years of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
