THE government has seized 40,000 bags of rice in four warehouses and arrested two Iligan City-based traders who were allegedly hoarding the stockpile, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said an interagency government group made the successful operation on October 11. The two traders, a Filipino-Chinese and a Taiwanese, would be charged with hoarding, profiteering and involvement in cartel operations, according to Piñol.
“NFA [National Food Authority] Acting Administrator Tomas Escarez said the rice stocks of Filipino-Chinese businessman Sonia C. Payan and Taiwanese trader Jhonny D. Tan kept in four warehouses in Iligan City were seized by the government,” he said in a Facebook post.
“Escarez said the documents in the possession of the two traders were inconsistent with their stock inventory and appeared spurious prompting the NFA to order the seizure,” Piñol added.
Citing Escarez, the DA chief said Payan and Tan are the first people to be arrested in the administration’s intensified campaign against rice hoarding.
“The arrest of the suspected hoarders and the seizure of the rice stocks was the first major accomplishment of the government team involved in the campaign against rice hoarding,” Piñol said.
The interagency government team against rice hoarding, cartel and smuggling is comprised of members of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Ports Authority, the Philippine Coast Guard, NFA and the Departments of Labor and Employment and of Trade.
Crackdown
IN a statement on Thursday, the National Movement for Food Sovereignty (NMFS) urged the government to strengthen its crackdown on unscrupulous traders to shield farmers from unfair rice trade.
“To reduce price speculation and uncontrolled rice price spikes, the government should make good at going after and prosecuting unscrupulous traders,” the NMFS said. “Giving them more economic clout by allowing them to export any volume is tantamount to protecting and encouraging their nefarious and profiteering activities.”
The NMFS argued that flooding the market would not be sufficient to bring down the high retail prices of rice. It explained that price manipulation by big traders and cartels is big a factor to price spikes.
As an example, the group cited the 2008 to 2009 rice crisis, wherein the government’s importation of about 2 million metric tons (MT) was not enough to reduce the prevailing retail prices that have risen to P40 per kilogram from P30 kilogram (kg).
“[Minimum access volume] imports of around 600,000 MT in 2016 and 888,000 MT in 2017 have not even driven domestic prices down at P41.72 per kg and P42.55 per kg in 2016 and 2017, respectively, for well-milled rice, suggesting that supply and demand is not the only determinant of price,” it said.
“[Pieces of evidence] point to price manipulation of traders and cartels often lead to price spikes that affect the welfare both of producers and consumers,” the NMFS added.