PRESIDENT Duterte has gone beyond threatening rice hoarders whom he blamed for soaring prices of the staple: he has already ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police to raid their warehouses, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. revealed in a radio interview on Monday.
Asked if there was already an order from the President, Roque said: “Yes. He mentioned it [to the] DILG to start with opening warehouses. The President knows who the hoarders are.”
Shortly after delivering his departure statement for his landmark visits to Israel and Jordan on Sunday, the President had once again said that he will not hesitate to ask the police to raid warehouses of rice hoarders, whom Malacañang earlier blamed for the increase in rice prices.
Roque said that when they were still at the airport, the order on the need to open the warehouses was already communicated to the police. “Let us start with a sample so that we can really show that the government is serious against its crackdown on rice hoarding,”
he said.
In a speech before the Filipino community in Israel, the President also denied that there is a rice shortage and dismissed the furor raised over the issue as “politics.”
Earlier, the President also warned rice traders not to force his hand into resorting to emergency measures to boost the rice supply, as senators urged him to take to task both the Department of Agriculture and the National Food Authority (NFA) for bungling the rice supply situation.
Importations
The President’s statements came on the heels of the NFA Council’s (NFAC) move to approve the immediate importation of 32,000 metric tons (MT) of rice by the private sector via the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme to ease the tightness in rice supply in Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Apart from the 32,000 MT, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the NFAC also approved the purchase of another 100,000 MT of rice from the unutilized MAV allocation. The 132,000 MT represent the unused portion of the 805,200 MT MAV for rice.
The President’s statements also comes after lawmakers filed a resolution to look into the reported price manipulation by rice traders and into the reported weevil infestation of the rice imported from Thailand and Vietnam.
The President is on an official visit to Israel until September 5 and will go to Jordan after to boost bilateral cooperation on areas of economic development, trade and investment, defense aand security, labor and science.
Roque also denied allegations that the Philippine delegation that went with the President numbered 400 people.
A report from Times of Israel cited information from a Kan state broadcaster that the President is “bringing with him a delegation of 400, including top army and police officials, some of whom are expected to visit Israeli army bases.”
In a message sent to reporters, Roque said the total number of official delegates and accompanying delegates consists of 46 persons aside from the 150 people who were part of the business delegation.
The business delegation traveled on their own accounts, Roque said.
“Not sure where figure of 400 came from,” he said.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes