Online Center for Philippine Public Sector Workers
NFA employees protest impending agency’s reorganization
Submitted by pubinfodepartment on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 21:57.
HUNDREDS of employees of the National Food Authority (NFA) picketed the administrative office of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to protest the impending reorganization of the agency which will affect 2,000 regular employees.
Mr. Roman Sanchez, president of the NFA Employees Association (NFAEA) said in a statement that the reorganization plan of the Department of Agriculture and the NFA Administration, under Jessup Navarro, is not only a “mitigation measure” but a way to weaken the union, which is the number one critic of the NFA administration’s “anti-people schemes”.
“The majority of union officers will be laid off. That can bring us into conclusion that the true intention of this reorganization scheme is to weaken the union—which is tightly tied up with the struggling Filipino people, especially the farmers and the poor—so that there’ll be no critics left inside the agency against their anti-people schemes such as privatization of the NFA and its dependency to imported rice and other grains, using food security as an escape goat,” Sanchez said.
He assailed Agriculture Sec. Arthur C. Yap and Navarro for passing the burden of their own failure to manage correctly the NFA’s funds.
“Do the workers have something to do with the losses? No, they don’t have. It’s the economic managers’ failure which caused the huge losses of the agency, not the workers. If they’re thinking and managing the agency’s resources well, then there’ll be no problem,” explained Sanchez.
He also lambasted the Macapagal-Arroyo administration for strongly pushing, not only the rationalization of government agencies but the privatization of public offices as well.
“If the NFA will be privatized or will be transformed only into an administrative office for grains importation, that will endanger the food security of the Philippines,” he warned.
On the other hand, Mr. Ferdinand R. Gaite, national president of the militant national center for government employees, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) expressed his support to the NFA employees’ struggle to retain their jobs, their only source of livelihood as well as the assurance of the Philippines’ food security. (Press Release/November 19, 2008)
Mr. Roman Sanchez, president of the NFA Employees Association (NFAEA) said in a statement that the reorganization plan of the Department of Agriculture and the NFA Administration, under Jessup Navarro, is not only a “mitigation measure” but a way to weaken the union, which is the number one critic of the NFA administration’s “anti-people schemes”.
“The majority of union officers will be laid off. That can bring us into conclusion that the true intention of this reorganization scheme is to weaken the union—which is tightly tied up with the struggling Filipino people, especially the farmers and the poor—so that there’ll be no critics left inside the agency against their anti-people schemes such as privatization of the NFA and its dependency to imported rice and other grains, using food security as an escape goat,” Sanchez said.
He assailed Agriculture Sec. Arthur C. Yap and Navarro for passing the burden of their own failure to manage correctly the NFA’s funds.
“Do the workers have something to do with the losses? No, they don’t have. It’s the economic managers’ failure which caused the huge losses of the agency, not the workers. If they’re thinking and managing the agency’s resources well, then there’ll be no problem,” explained Sanchez.
He also lambasted the Macapagal-Arroyo administration for strongly pushing, not only the rationalization of government agencies but the privatization of public offices as well.
“If the NFA will be privatized or will be transformed only into an administrative office for grains importation, that will endanger the food security of the Philippines,” he warned.
On the other hand, Mr. Ferdinand R. Gaite, national president of the militant national center for government employees, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) expressed his support to the NFA employees’ struggle to retain their jobs, their only source of livelihood as well as the assurance of the Philippines’ food security. (Press Release/November 19, 2008)