Favored few may have cornered NFA rice imports — PNoy

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III on Wednesday cast suspicion on the National Food Authority’s private sector-financed importation of rice in 2010, saying only one group or person seemed to have benefited from it. The manager’s check used by the private groups authorized to import rice came from only one bank, Aquino quoted NFA administrator Lito Banayo as saying. “At hindi pa raw ho natapos doon. Sunod-sunod pa ‘yung tseke - sequential ang order. Tila iisang grupo lang yata o iisang tao ang nakinabang diyan (And it doesn’t end there. The checks came one after the other – in a sequential order. It seems only one group or person benefited from it)," Aquino said. While he did not name the private groups, the bank, or any person supposedly involved in those transactions, Aquino in his speech at the 65th anniversary of the Liberal Party sought the help of his partymates to reform the NFA. “Hindi po tubong-lugaw ang nangyari sa Pilipino. ‘Yun po kailangan ko ang tulong niyo. Aayusin natin yang NFA. Gagawin natin ‘yung kanyang mandato pero ilalagay naman natin sa mas maayos (This is not easy money. I need your help. Let us reform the NFA. We will implement its mandate properly)," he said. During the previous administration, the NFA allowed businessmen to import 200,000 metric tons of rice, Banayo said. He explained, however, that favored contractors were able to corner the contracts. — Amita Legaspi/PE/VS, GMANews.TV