Witnesses link 2 ex-govt officials to rice smuggling

(Updated 2:16 p.m.) Witnesses on Monday tagged former National Food Authority (NFA) chief Lito Banayo and slain Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) head Nixon Kua in rice smuggling during a hearing at the Senate.

Simeon Sioson of the 4 SM Agri Venture Multi-Purpose Cooperative told senators that Banayo, during his term, favored a specific group of cooperatives in granting rice allocations. He said cooperatives win the rice allocation bidding but other cooperatives actually get the grant.

"Ang pinapaboran ni Mister Banayo 'yung grupo ni Miss Elizabeth Faustino,” Sioson said. “Marami pong instances na may allocation ang federation namin [pero] tinwist po nila."

"Dummy lang kami at 'yung sinasabi nila [cooperatives] na tumatanggap sila ng P5 [per rice bag] hindi po totoo 'yun," he added.

GMA News was still trying to reach Banayo, who has resigned from his post for his congressional bid in Agusan del Norte in the 2013 elections, for his comment as of posting time.

In a hearing last October, Banayo, who was grilled on the role of NFA-licensed traders being used as dummies, said the agency did what it could to ensure the legitimacy of traders and cooperatives it licensed to participate in the government’s rice import program.

Interviewed after the hearing, agriculture committee chair Sen. Francis Pangilinan said they would invite Banayo to the next hearing as requested by Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada.

"He will be asked [to come] again. Senator Estrada had made manifestation before we suspended that he be asked to appear in the next hearing," he said.

"The whole process precisely is conducted by and then certified by and accredited by the NFA so we'd like to hear from him his response dito sa latest findings ng committee based on the testimonies," he added.

Nixon Kua

During Monday's hearing, Faustino, treasurer of a federation of cooperatives, said she just helped finance the bid of the winning cooperatives since they could not pay the service fees, which amounted to almost P60 million each.

She said she got the money from Kua, who promised her a 30-percent commission and P5 for the cooperatives for every rice sack sold.

"Meron pong tumulong sa amin, si Mister Nixon Kua... sabi po niya sa 'kin sa kanya ako humingi ng pang-bid," she said.

Faustino said she met Kua, who was reportedly Banayo's friend, at the NFA office since he was always there. Kua was shot dead last July by unidentified armed men.

Pangilinan said the tagging of Kua created more questions. "That creates a new set of questions. Sabi nga he was close to Mister Banayo. These are matters that need to be looked into," he said.

He admitted that they will have a hard time finding out the truth since Kua is dead.

"Where do you go from there? We'll see," he said, adding that they still have some information that will come out during Sioson's requested executive session within the week.

Dummies

But Sioson said he believes that the cooperatives did not really earn money from the transaction and were just used as dummies.  

"Wala ako sapat na ebidensya pero ang bank booklet ng mga cooperative ang magpapatunay kung tinanggap nga ninyo yun," he said, after which he asked for an executive session and protection from the Senate.

During the same hearing, Magdangal Diego Maralit Bayani III of the St. Andrews Field Grains and Cereal Trading said Kua was also the one who told him about the foreign rice shipment coming into Subic, which was what sparked the Senate investigation, which is being conducted by the committees on agriculture and food, ways and means, and blue ribbon.

"[Sabi niya] sa akin po na meron nga pong bigas na nasa Subic kung interested ako na bilin 'yun. Lumalabas na agent siya na nagbebenta," he said.

He said when he asked Kua whether the shipment had a permit from the NFA, he said it did. During previous Senate hearings, it was revealed that the shipment had no permit to be sold locally. — KBK, GMA News