Think-tank bucks abolition of NFA

MANILA, Philippines - A newly formed think-tank is opposing the abolition of the National Food Authority (NFA).

 Forensic Law and Policy Strategies, Inc. (Forensic Solutions), a private think-tank headed by former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, believes that the NFA can still transform itself from a money-losing venture into a profitable agency.

For starters, Forensic Solutions suggest, the NFA can run a grains exchange market and invest its funds in financial instruments.

In keeping with President Aquino’s preference  for public-private sector partnerships to tap private funds for big-ticket public infrastructure projects, Forensic Solutions said the NFA can support  priority programs by partnering with private groups to cultivate lands for farm production or even let the private sector handle rice imports.

“The abolition of the NFA is a non-responsive solution to the impending food crisis. It will not help alleviate the rice shortage, and will ultimately prove to be a disservice to the common Filipino who rely on the low-priced commodities offered by NFA,” Agra said in a policy paper titled “A Grain of Hope for NFA,” which he co-authored with former State Solicitor Lally Ortilla-Mallari.

Forensic Solutions offers services in the fields of policy, law reform, advocacy and governance.

It provides forensic studies and viable legal options for their clients to best navigate executive, administrative, legislative and judicial inquiries.

Agra was a former Solicitor General and Government Corporate Counsel, while Mallari is a former legal consultant of the Philippine Stock Exchange and was a consultant of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel and the Asian Development Bank.  

In their policy paper, Agra and Mallari pointed out that under its Charter, the NFA was not created as a money-making enterprise for the government, but as an agency designed to promote the growth and development of the domestic grains industry.

The NFA, formerly known as the National Grains Authority, was created in 1972 through Presidential Decree 4 under the framework of the 1935 Constitution.

PD 4 did not specify profitability as among NFA’s primary goals as a government-owned and controlled corp. (GOCC).

It was only under the 1987 Constitution that the concept of “economic viability” was introduced as among the parameters for measuring the performance of GOCCs, Agra and Mallari noted.

The late Blas Ople, who was then a commissioner of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, introduced this concept to restrain future GOCCs from escaping the responsibility of meeting the market test for viability.

“Placed in context, the NFA was not created as a money-making venture for government, but to promote the integrated growth and development of the grains industry,” Agra and Mallari said. “While economic viability is ideal for a GOCC, it is not the sole criterion against which its performance is evaluated, or its continued existence determined.”

They said that as part of its mandate, the NFA can explore income-generating opportunities to become economically viable, including:

Agra and Mallari said that under its Charter, the NFA can collect fees on the registration, licensing and supervision of warehouses and mills; on the export of rice, corn and other grains and their substitutes, byproducts or end products; and on the licensing and regulation of operations of establishments related to the production, processing, transporting, marketing and trading of grains and their substitutes.

“While these recommendations are feasible under the current NFA Charter, as amended, certain statutory provisions need to be clarified and amplified, and policy statements reformed to clearly chart the future of NFA,” they said.

 “In addition, there is a need to re-visit the charter of the NFA to make it a more robust institution, while maintaining its socially responsive character,” Agra and Mallari added.