NEFA in the spotlight anew

As gov’t moves forward with liberalized trade

- JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

The open secret Aside from the National Food Authority's (NFA) scheme of buying high and selling low, pundits have emphasized that the agency has another problem - its sole authority and discretion over the rice industry.

Pre-Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), the agency had the power to allocate import permits among participating traders and importers.

That power, sources said, leaves the bureaucracy prone to corruption. It has been an open secret that rice import licenses and quotas issued by the NFA back then were being sold by smaller importers to bigger players.