CONTAINER vans with at least 1 million bags of imported rice have been left stacked at the Cebu International Port since early March 2017 because of an ongoing top-level controversy within the Duterte administration over the country’s national rice-importation policy.
Seemingly left to rot at the Port of Cebu, the rice came mostly from Vietnam and formed part of an allocation of 10,000 metric tons (MT) obtained by Pilmico Foods Corp. under the 2016 Minimum Access Volume (MAV) of the National Food Authority (NFA).
Documents at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Cebu showed only a shipment that arrived on February 21, 2017 containing 10,000 bags was released.
The processing of the shipment that left Hanoi, Vietnam, onboard MV SITC Fujian was finished on February 28, 2017. This is the importation deadline specified by import permit number MAV-2016-0433 signed by NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Aquino.
The shipment of rice arrived at the Port of Cebu on board MV SITC Fujian on January 21, 2017. The National Plant Quarantine Services Division Station 16 in Cebu certified the consignees complied with the preinspection requirements on February 28, 2017.
The processing of subsequent shipments that arrived later could not meet the February 28 deadline when a policy disagreement on rice importations erupted at the national level.
The policy battle involved the clashing stands of the NFA Council (NFAC) that advocated importations using private traders while NFA Administrator Jason Aquino preferred government-to-government transactions.
A former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) mutineer, Maj. Jason Aquino became familiar with rice importation procedures during his stint at the BOC during the time of Deputy Commissioner Jesse Dellosa, who was a retired AFP chief of staff. However, Aquino left the bureau when Dellosa linked him to the so-called “tara system” at the bureau.
Before his stint at the customs Tbureau, Aquino was named by former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano as an emissary sent by former Political Affairs Secretary Ronald Llamas.
Aquino refused to implement an NFAC order that extended importation to March 31, 2017. The extension could have prevented the situation of the Pilmico importations.
Based on the NFA March 31, 2017 report, the 2016 MAV rice importations brought in a total of 692,340 MT nationwide with 99 percent already covered by the payment of advance customs duty through the Land Bank of the Philippines.
NFA records showed 92.38 percent of the MAV allocation already arrived through various ports in the Philippines covered by 728 import permits signed by the NFA administrator. Some 92,209.35 MT had been arriving at the Cebu port from January to March 2017.
Apparently, the NFA empowered Aquino to approve the import permits up to March 31, 2017. But while Aquino signed the import permits, the processing of the shipments that arrived like the shipments consigned to Pilmico were stopped.
The row escalated to the dismissal of Malacañang Undersecretary Maia Halmen Valdez when President Duterte believed accusations of corruption against her. NFA records showed that only Aquino approved the import permits.