JV wants to detach NFA from agri dept.

Sen. Jose Victor Ejercito proposed that the National Food Authority (NFA) be the sole entity charged with the  importation of rice; establish  the NFA as  independent  of the Dept. of Agriculture; and to make smuggling an act of economic sabotage.

These measures he said are needed to address the problem of rice smuggling which worsened in the administration of president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. During the Arroyo administration, private individuals and groups like farmers cooperatives were  issued permits by the NFA to import rice.

Importation of rice, he said, aggravated rice smuggling through technical smuggling or misdeclaration of the volume of imported rice shipments.
Aside from depriving government of around P10 billion in revenue to rice smugglers, importation is also killing the domestic rice industry.

“Itong private rice importation is a baluktot na practice that started in the Arroyo administration. We wonder why the Aquino administration is not straightening up,” Ejercito told members of the Cebu media in a roundtable discussion at the Casino Español yesterday.

“When we recognize the NFA as the only importing agency, then the Bureau of Customs (BOC) would easily detect if those rice are smuggled or not,” Ejercito said.

He also said that the NFA should be removed from the (DA) for the latter to concentrate on improving rice farms and increasing rice production. The DA should modernize our rice and grain industry as a whole. The NFA should safeguard our nation’s food security by ensuring that we have enough rice stocks.
Economic sabotage

Ejercito said he is filing a bill that would elevate the crime of smuggling into economic sabotage, making it a heinous crime.

The senate hearing on smuggling, he said should continue as it has effectively exposed how smuggling has wrecked havoc on our economy.