Ombudsman lifts suspension order vs over 20 NFA personnel

The Office of the Ombudsman has lifted the suspension order on more than 20 National Food Authority (NFA) personnel linked to the alleged irregular sale of rice buffer stocks to favored traders.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV on Friday, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said the suspension order was lifted after investigators from his office found erroneous data on the list provided to them by the Department of Agriculture (DA), which supposedly sourced the list from the NFA. 

“Kung may pagkakamali sa listahan na iyan, hindi namain kasalanan iyon. Hindi ko alam kung sino nanloko sa amin (It’s not our fault of there were errors on the list, I have no idea who’s trying to hoodwink us),” Martires said.

Martires said among the NFA personnel whose suspension was lifted were warehouse supervisors in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“After conducting initial investigation ng mga imbestigador namin, itong nirekomenda nila na i-lift ang preventive suspension sa mga warehouse supervisors sa Iloilo, Antique, Cabanatuan, basta NCR. Basta mga 23 lahat ‘yun,” he said.

(After our investigators conducted initial investigation, they recommended the lifting of the preventive suspension on warehouse supervisors in Iloilo, Antique, Cabanatuan, and other NCR areas. There are more or less 23 of them.) —KBK, GMA Integrated News