Arroyo: If Duterte wants NFA Council abolished, we will work on it

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday assured President Rodrigo Duterte that if he wants to abolish the National Food Authority (NFA) Council, the House of Representatives will work on it.

Arroyo made the pronouncement after Duterte himself floated the abolition of the council which is among the bodies being blamed for the rice crisis in the country

"Well, if he asks for it, then we will work on it," Arroyo told reporters in an ambush interview.

In his tête-à-tête with Chief Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo on Tuesday, Duterte said he would recommend to Congress to abolish the NFA Council, the policy making body composed of 11 government agencies which grants or denies the NFA's request for rice importation.

Arroyo, however, did not make a concrete stance on Duterte's move.

"Remember when I was in Pampanga I was asked, I’m neither here nor there. It can be abolished, it can be retained," she said.

"[But] if it’s a President’s policy call, we will work on it," she added.

Aside from abolishing the NFA Council, Duterte said he would find a replacement for NFA administrator Jason Aquino, whose resignation was called for by lawmakers across party-lines over the rice shortage issue.

The President also said he will consider getting rice supply from Sabah “if worse comes to worst [on rice crisis]." —KG, GMA News