(PNA file photo)
MANILA – The National Food Authority (NFA) is now under the helm of Director IV Larry Lacson, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced Monday.
Lacson’s designation came shortly after the afternoon meeting of the NFA Council amid the ongoing probe on the alleged anomalous sale of rice buffer stock.
“The NFA Council has unanimously appointed Director Larry Lacson as Officer-in-Charge (OIC)-Administrator to make sure the operations of the agency run smoothly, especially during this harvest season," Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement.
The DA assured Lacson's extensive capacity in the industry, having both experience from the private sector and the government.
Besides Lacson's membership in the Philippine Food Expo Inc., he was a former co-chair in the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Agriculture and Fisheries Committee, and a director of the Bureau of Plant Industry.
Before Lacson's designation, the DA tasked Piolito Santos to be NFA OIC as eplacement for suspended OIC Roderico Bioco.
Santos, however, was included in the preventive suspension order meted out by the Office of the Ombudsman on 141 officials and employees.
Of the total, the Ombudsman already revoked the suspension against 23 warehouse supervisors and one branch manager after it found erroneous data on the list provided by the DA.
The DA is conducting its parallel investigation on the procurement and rice quality assessment data as far back as 2019.
Laurel, meanwhile, reiterated the importance of NFA's role in securing a rice buffer stock and the need to normalize operations.
"The NFA is an integral part of our effort to ensure the country’s food security,” he said.
Around PHP17 billion is allocated for the procurement of 300,000 metric tons of rice for this year's buffer stock. (PNA)
