President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed additional details regarding the suspension of 139 officials and employees of the National Food Authority (NFA), including Administrator Roderico Bioco.
The president shared that the suspension paves the way for an examination of some of the procedures within the NFA that "were undertaken without board approval, without the proper discussion within the NFA and with the the Department of Agriculture and with the rest of the Cabinet."
"The situation actually does not only involve the anomalous sale of NFA rice," President Marcos told reporters in Melbourne Australia on Friday, March 7.
"So, we have taken the safe measure of suspending all of those who have been shown to may have been involved in any of these wrongdoings such as the anomalous sale but also the cavalier way in which the procedures that have been set out in the rules have been ignored," he added.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced on Monday, March 4, that the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Bioco and NFA assistant administrator for operations John Roberto Hermano.
The Ombudsman also suspended 12 regional managers, 27 branch managers, and 98 warehouse supervisors of the NFA.
Laurel appointed Acting NFA Assistant Administrator for Finance and Administration Piolito Santos as officer-in-charge of the agency under the Department of Agriculture.
