A Repost From Thea Alberto Of Yahoo! Southeast Asia

New NFA administrator seeks system audit

By Thea Alberto – July 27th, 2010

Email Facebook Twitter Print

By Thea Alberto, Yahoo! Southeast Asia

The National Food Authority seeks a systems and management audit, following President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s revelations of wasteful spending in the agency during the previous administration.

NFA Administrator Lito Banayo said he already sought the help of Department of Justice (DoJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the systems audit.

“I am minded to institute a systems and management audit of my agency to ensure both systems and personnel are functioning properly according to our mandate,” Banayo said, quoting his letter to Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Banayo said the audit would include investigation of previous purchases, protocols in timing and volume of rice importation and inventory of system to prevent waste and spoilage of stocks.

Banayo lamented that NFA has a debt of P177 billion as of June 30 yet the agency has overstock of rice in its warehouses.

“Punong puno po kami ng bigas. Naliligo po kami sa bigas,” Banayo said, adding that the country has sufficient rice supply until December.

Banayo said he also suspects some of rice in stock were purchased back in 2008, which means the stocks are past its shelf life of six months.

The over importation of rice was first revealed by the president in his first State of the Nation Address.

“Ang masakit nito, dahil sobra-sobra ang binibili nila taun-taon, nabubulok lang pala sa mga kamalig ang bigas, kagaya ng nangyari noong 2008. Hindi po ba krimen ito, na hinahayaan nilang mabulok ang bigas, sa kabila ng apat na milyong Pilipinong hindi kumakain ng tatlong beses sa isang araw?” Aquino said in his speech.

Reposted From Thea Alberto Of Yahoo! Southeast Asia