11 NFA personnel charged, suspended over palay scam

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – Eleven officials and employees of the National Food Authority (NFA) in Nueva Ecija were administratively charged on Tuesday over the alleged misclassification of 32,695 bags of palay in December.

NFA Administrator Renan Dalisay also ordered the suspension of the NFA personnel for 90 days without pay.

“We will not tolerate any malpractice...we will ensure a thorough investigation. We will safeguard the public and our stakeholders from few bad eggs in our organization,” Dalisay said.  

Amadeo de Guzman, NFA-Central Luzon director, said the NFA personnel face charges of dishonesty, grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, falsification of documents and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

A four-member probe team of the NFA regional office led by Marcelino Villar Jr. earlier recommended the indictment of solar dryer engineer Edmar Torres, quality control officers Cesar Paul de Guia and Adam Rayo, pest control officer Leo Thereso Ramos and acting provincial quality assurance officer Jimmy Mallari in connection with the case.

The probe team has yet to release its findings on the involvement of relieved NFA provincial manager George Roca and assistant provincial manager Daniel Valenzuela as well as allegations of conspiracy between NFA employees and some unscrupulous businessmen.

De Guzman said the procurement cost, which should only be P17.9 million, jumped to P27.8 million because of the misclassification.

He said 32,695 bags of palay were declared dry and clean instead of wet with moisture content of 15 to 30 percent.