Gatchalian wants ‘inefficient, unproductive’ NFA abolished
SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian sought the abolition of the National Food Authority (NFA) to spare taxpayers from the burden of subsidizing the “inefficient and unproductive” operations of the embattled agency.
The senator said that the NFA could no longer pursue some of its responsibilities, which contribute to insufficient rice supply, as well as high rice prices.
He said that the NFA has become “a liability to the government” after its revenue continues to drop every year.
“It’s time to abolish this unproductive agency and put taxpayers’ money to better use,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs.
Financial data shows that NFA’s revenue shrank 38 percent — from P29.3 billion in 2016 to P17.93 billion in 2017. NFA’s losses swelled to P150 billion.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Treasury (BoTr) reported that the NFA was the biggest recipient of subsidies provided to government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) in June 2018.
Record shows that the treasury department allocated P5.2 billion of the total P9.72 GOCC subsidy released that month for NFA’s food security program.
The Commission on Audit (CoA), however, has called out the NFA for using GOCC subsidy funds to settle outstanding debts, saying the funds were intended “specifically to stabilize the price and supply of rice and corn.”
“Taxpayers continue to shoulder the losses that NFA despite its consistent failure to fulfill its mandate to stabilize the market price of rice so that every Filipino family will be able to put enough rice on their plates,” Gatchalian said. BERNADETTE TAMAYO
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