Piñol at NFA Administrator Aquino hindi sisibakin-Du30

IBINASURA ni Pangulong Duterte ang mga panawagan na magbitiw na sina  Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol at National Food Authority Administrator Jason Aquino matapos naman ang kontrobersiya kaugnay ng NFA rice na may bukbok at ang problema sa suplay ng bigas sa Zamboanga.

Sa isang press conference bago tumulak pa Israel, iginiit ni Duterte na ang mga batas ang dapat palakasin at hindi ang pagsibak sa mga opisyal.

“You know, all officials including me our bound by laws on the matter — rice, whatever it is. There are laws to be followed. Maybe the laws are weak or unenforceable. All we have to do is to improve on those laws, not necessarily fire people,” sabi ni Duterte.

Idinagdag ni Duterte na wala siyang nakikitang seryosong nagawa nina Pinol at Aquino para sila patalsikin sa pwesto.

“And I don’t see any serious offense there. We have not really lost anything except that there’s a — aberration in the market,” giit ni Duterte.

Samantala, nagbabala naman si Duterte sa mga negosyante na wag nilang pilitin na makialam na siya sa isyu.

“Now, I’m just warning the traders, lalo na ang tiyan ng Pilipino. Do not force me to resort to emergency measure. Because if you do that and time is very limited, I will not allow Filipinos to go hungry,” giit ni Duterte.

Samantala, kinontra naman ni Duterte ang panukala ni Pinol na gawin na lang ligal ang mga smuggled na bigas.

“No, of course not. That would be destructive to the economy. You’d put down on the market in turmoil. Smuggled rice unrestrained, that would promote disorder in this country. Maybe we can import and lose. I-import natin, ipagbili natin at a price that… Malulugi tayo. Pero we’ll peg it at the price that the Filipino can afford. We can lose but not allow smuggling in this country. That’s the other way around. Mag-import tayo tapos magpa-lugi na lang. At least meron tayong benchmark kung magkano ang maubos — ang pera natin,” giit ni Duterte.