Malacañang on Monday assured the public that the P20 per kilo rice program of the government will not be affected by the adverse opinion on the financial statements of Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) that the Commission on Audit (COA) issued in connection with P5.43 billion in unsubstantiated Department of Agriculture (DA) trust liabilities.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, in a briefing in Malacañang, said the FTI had already answered the COA opinion and submitted its action plan and status of implementation.
“At ito pong adverse opinion, sabi nga natin ay natugunan na, hindi po ito makakaapekto sa pagbibigay at pagtitinda ng 20 pesos kada kilo na bigas,” Castro said.
She also defended the cancellation of the P700 million rice importation from Vietnam due to lack of proper documentation including the permit.
“Mismong sinabi ni (Agriculture) Secretary (Francisco) Tiu Laurel na siya mismo ang nagpapigil para makapasok ang bigas na ito – malinaw na pinababalik ang barko dahil walang kaukulang dokumento,” she said.
The DA said it cancelled the import permit for the said shipping on the request of Planters Product Inc. (PPI), which had initially applied to import 25 percent broken rice.
The PPI said that it learned that the shipment only contained five percent broken rice and that its contract for the imported rice had already expired.
The delivery was originally scheduled for July and contained 12,480 metric tons of rice from Vietnam.