Duterte wants Army chief Bautista to head NFA
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday offered Maj. Gen. Rolando Joselito D. Bautista, retiring Commanding General of the Philippine Army, to take over the position of outgoing National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino.
“Mabait ‘yan, si Rolly (is good). In the meantime na hindi kita mailagay sa (that I cannot put you in the) Central Bank, pwede ka muna sa (you can be in the) NFA siguro (perhaps) to rationalize the idiotic [structure],” the President said in his remarks during a televised Cabinet meeting on Super-Typhoon Ompong on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 16, in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.
He added: “Para maplano (So we can plan it out and), make it structural. Mag-retire na ‘yan oh ([He] will retire soon).”
The President said the “problem” with the NFA is “there’s a dearth of substantial knowledge of where the rice is.”
“That’s why I need somebody I can trust at masabihan ko na (and order to) fix that...” he said.
Last week, Mr. Duterte announced that Mr. Aquino had requested to be relieved from his post. Hence, he was “scouting” for a new NFA administrator.
According to the AFP Civil Relations Service Web site, Mr. Bautista is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sandiwa” Class of 1987, and is also a former commander of Mr. Duterte’s Presidential Security Group (PSG).
During the meeting, Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis N. Tolentino, the President’s “conduit” for disaster response, reported: “Kalinga has one casualty. Ang maraming casualty is Cordillera. Sa area ay 24 na (There is one casualty in Kalinga [province]. Many of the casualty incidents are in the Cordillera [Administrative Region]).”
He added: “We are still searching for 13 missing individuals. Ang (The) confirmed po ngayon na nasawi sa (number of deaths in the) area ay (is) 24 na (already).”
In response, Mr. Duterte said: “I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones. Those [are what] we call the unforeseen events. In insurance, this is an act of God. I don’t know how it can be an act of God, but that is the term used by the insurance.”
The President said he “will visit Cordillera Region tomorrow,” Monday, Sept. 17.
Mr. Tolentino added that “In terms of preparedness of all agencies, talaga pong naging handa sila (they were all prepared). We are now ending search and rescue operations. By tomorrow, the rehabilitation operations should commence.”
He also requested the local government units (LGUs) affected “to declare their own state of calamity, because that will trigger the price freeze of DTI (Department of Trade and Industry).”
“When provinces declare their respective states of calamity, the price freeze will kick in,” Tolentino said.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, for his part, said the DTI is currently “monitoring the NFA rice supply in the typhoon-hit areas.”
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said, “The price of rice is stabilizing. It’s going down because of the harvest season.” But he also noted that his department “fears” the “delayed arrival of imported rice will affect the harvest of the farmers.”
Mr. Duterte then said, “We will implement the (rice) tariffication maybe next month.”