Kindly allow us to reply to Jose Taganahan’s letter, “What anomalies did NFA Employees Association expose?” (Inquirer, 6/28/11)
For brevity, here are some of the major ones:
Thousands of bags of naphthalene-contaminated NFA imported rice (1991);
the conversion of NFA into a service corporation that undermined food security resulting in a nationwide rice crisis (1993);
illegal use of NFA resources during the May 1994 senatorial elections (1995);
anomalous sale of corn grains worth more than half a billion pesos (1995);
and the release of around 5,000 bags of rice contaminated with hydrogen cyanide (1995);
The rice-to-sawdust switching scam (2002), where whistleblower Ruben Manatad was supported by NFAEA in this exposé against the NFA management in Region 8;
the planned transfer of the NFA central office to a plush building in Pasig City, which was eventually shelved, but not after it had cost NFA a non-refundable down payment of P15 million (2003);
a sexual harassment case involving an assistant director (2004), in which the NFAEA
extended support to the victim.
The union also petitioned: for the ouster of then GSIS president Winston Garcia for graft charges (2004); demonstrated against the onerous TindaVan contract and NFA privatization of rice importation (2000-2005), against two NFA directors (2008) for graft and harassment cases, and for the relief of a manager for corrupt practices (2010).
We also extended legal and financial assistance to the family of Rey Capones, a union leader who was killed by NFA manager Ferdinand Satuito who was known to enjoy “VIP protection” from some NFA officials.
Satuito, who was also involved in the anomalous sale of 40,000 bags of NFA rice, was convicted of homicide and frustrated homicide on May 17, 2011.
For 20 years now, our union has been actively campaigning against onerous foreign loan agreements entered into by the government purportedly to support local agriculture but in reality are damaging to the Philippine rice industry.
We also provided research materials to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in 2007 for its exposé of the infamous P728-million fertilizer scam.
Taganahan’s tirades against NFAEA are not surprising. He ran for union president in 2002 and lost miserably. In March 2010, he ran for a director’s seat in the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the NFA Provident Fund and got only a handful of votes out of the nearly 2,000 cast.
Taganahan must have been living in isolation for the past two decades not to know what irregularities have been exposed by the NFAEA.
—SIGNED BY 30 OFFICERS OF
NFA EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION (NFAEA),
nfa_ea@yahoo.com