COA: Government purchase of rice access cards for poor unnecessary

MANILA, Philippines - The acquisition of more than P2 million worth of access cards for cheap rice for the poor during the food crisis last year was unnecessary and the funds could have just been used to directly purchase the staple, a Commission on Audit (COA) report stated.

“The purchase of Family Access Cards (FAC) and bar codes to ensure access to NFA (National Food Authority) rice during rice shortages was not justified thus, its procurement in the total amount of P2,418,700.69 was considered unnecessary,” the COA report said.

At the height of the rice shortage in Metro Manila in mid-2008, the Department of Social Welfare and Development procured 750,000 pieces of the cards and distributed them to poor families to give them to access to cheap NFA rice. Printing alone of bar codes on the cards amounted to more than P200,000.

But state auditors said that they received information that even with the access cards, some poor families were still unable to buy rice because of limited supply from the NFA.

“Access to sufficient rice may only be possible if there is sufficient supply of rice or when there are available stocks at the NFA. FACs are therefore not useful when there is actually no rice available,” COA said.

The COA report also tagged as “superfluous” the use of bar codes since signatures would have sufficed to authenticate the cards. Furthermore, stores selling NFA rice did not have electronic readers that could validate the bar codes.

“In the midst of economic crisis, the amount of P2,418,700.69 could have been used to purchase more rice or used for more urgent programs for the poor,” the report stated.

The DSWD maintained that the cards and their bar codes were useful in minimizing leakages in the distribution of subsidized rice.

It added that the cards were useful even if there was no rice shortage because they gave the poor access to two kilograms of rice everyday at the lowest price.

The DSWD also stressed that before the purchase of the cards, the NFA had ensured enough supply of subsidized rice to meet the requirements.