House Appropriations Committee Chairman, Rep. Karlo “Ang Probinsyano” Nograles on Friday urged the leadership of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to charge the owners of a warehouse that was found to be stockpiling and repacking rice in Iligan City with economic sabotage, stressing that those caught hoarding rice could be liable for violating Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
“This is what I’ve been telling the DA since August when we first began the budget deliberations. Some unscrupulous rice traders, particularly in Mindanao, are hoarding rice to the detriment of our poor countrymen who must struggle to eat three square meals a day,” said Nograles.
Earlier, the three-term Davao City lawmaker told Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol to treat cases of rice hoarding as economic sabotage, which is a non-bailable offense.
“We shouldn’t buy the excuse of traders that this is merely inventory management. This is clearly a case of economic sabotage. Hoarding rice to create a scenario wherein rice is scarce results in skyrocketing rice prices. This is the very definition of price manipulation and economic sabotage,” said the lawyer-legislator.
“We shouldn’t buy the excuse of traders that this is merely inventory management. This is clearly a case of economic sabotage.”
Last October 3, it was reported that at least 50,000 sacks of rice were found by a local Task Force on Rice Hoarding (TFRH) from two warehouses in Barangay Palao, Iligan City in the province of Lanao del Norte. Businessmen Johnny Tan and Sonia Payan were identified as the owners of the warehouses.
According to reports, the rice found in these warehouses appeared to have been smuggled from nearby Malaysia and were repacked to appear like they were milled locally. The warehouses were also found to have been operating without a permit from the National Food Authority (NFA).
A technicality prevented the task force members from raiding a third warehouse. Given this, Nograles said the scale of rice hoarding in the region could be bigger than first thought.
“There have been previous cases of rice hoarding in Zamboanga and many more areas around the country. The authorities should step it up. Hindi po dapat lumamig ang isyu ng rice hoarding dahil milyung-milyong Pilipino po ang apektado dito.”
“There have been previous cases of rice hoarding in Zamboanga and many more areas around the country. The authorities should step it up.”
In Zamboanga City, some 23,000 sacks of rice which were in the custody of the Bureau of Customs mysteriously disappeared, some of which were eventually traced to warehouses owned by Mindanao rice traders.
Nograles, a product of the Ateneo Law School, explained that those involved in rice smuggling and hoarding who seek to manipulate the supplies and the prices of rice could be charged with economic sabotage as provided under RA 10845, as well as hoarding, a felony under RA 7581, or the Price Act.
Nograles said that by manipulating supply and demand, unscrupulous rice traders are able to increase rice prices while providing the NFA officials with justifications to import rice from Vietnam and other countries.
“This is an old trick repeatedly used by these unscrupulous rice cartels. They suppress the supply of rice and create an artificial rice shortage thereby leaving our consumers with no choice but to buy expensive commercial rice. Lumang style na po ito pero sobrang nakakapagtaka kung bakit hindi pa rin natin masugpo ang masamang gawain na ito.”
