SUSPECTED rice smuggler Davidson Bangayan, a.k.a. “David Tan”, failed to show up in the preliminary investigation being conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the criminal charges filed against him and several others for allegedly cornering the rice importation in the country.
Aside from Bangayan, his 14 corespondents in the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were also not around.
Bangayan is facing charges of monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade, as penalized under Article 186 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC); bid fixing, as penalized under Section 65 of Republic Act (RA) 9184 (Government Procurement Act); using fictitious name or concealing true name, as penalized under Article 178 of the RPC; and violation of Commonwealth Act 142, as amended by RA 6085.
The NBI lodged the criminal charges following the request of the Senate, through its Committee Report 763 (Committees on Agriculture and Food, Ways and Means, Trade and Commerce and Accountability of Public Officers).
Bangayan’s corespondents in the first complaint are Judilyne Lim, David Lim and Leah Echiveria of Cebu-based DGL Commodities; Elizabeth Faustino; and Eleanor Rodriguez. For the second charge, the four other respondents are Judilyne Lim, Faustino, Rodriguez and Echiveria.
The other respondents in the other charges are Eugene Pioquinto, Mary Joyce Lim, Jason Colocado, Michael Villanueva, Denis Gonzales, Willy Sy, Sandra Lim, Gil Calipayan and Inigo Espiritu.
The panel of prosecutors has set the deadline for the respondents to file their respective counter-affidavits on October 30.
In its complaint, the NBI alleged that the respondents conspired to use rice farmers “for the purpose of acquiring substantial allocations on the PSF-TES importation program of the National Food Authority (NFA), with the end goal of monopolizing the supply of rice”. PSF-TES refers to private-sector financed tax expenditure subsidy.
The NBI claimed that the scheme cornered the government’s rice-import allocations through the NFA in 2012 using 25 farmers’ organizations and cooperatives, and single proprietors that did not have the necessary financial and logistical capabilities as “dummies”.
The NBI further alleged that the bidders for NFA rice allocations were financed in exchange for a small percentage per sack as “share”.