Sunday, March 30, 2008 Barangays eyed in fight v. hoarding
POLICE powers should be exercised by barangay officials against rice hoarders, amid a looming rice crisis in the country.
Cebu Provincial Board (PB) Member Victor Maambong penned a resolution requesting barangay officials to apprehend hoarders of rice and basic commodities in their communities, to help arrest the rising prices of these goods.
The resolution will be tackled during tomorrow’s regular PB session, which will have representatives of the National Food Authority (NFA) in attendance.
PB Member Wilfredo Caminero, chairperson of the committee on agriculture and livelihood, invited the NFA to apprise the board of the rice situation in the province. Grain retailers were also invited to discuss reports of hoarding in the province.
Also invited are the different town and city mayors for a briefing on the state of rice supply in Cebu.
Food thefts
“Much confusion has been going on in the country today because of the reported rice shortage, which led to the unexplained spiraling of prices of rice and other basic commodities,” Maambong said in his resolution.
Barili Mayor Teresito Mariñas noted earlier that a number of theft incidents in his town have been food-related, which made him suspect that the food situation is getting problematic.
In January, a sack of rice was still at P720 but increased to P840 in February. Last March saw the biggest surge, bringing the price to P1,100 per sack.
Dalaguete Mayor Andrade Alcantara also noted a P100 increase for every sack of rice in just a month.
“The government believes that there is abundant supply of rice in the country but that unscrupulous traders have resorted to hoarding and controlling of rice and basic commodities to create an artificial shortage so as to jack up their prices,” Maambong’s resolution also read.
President Arroyo has ordered the Department of Agriculture to investigate if there is indeed hoarding or if supply was just distributed unevenly.
Maambong believes that barangay officials are more familiar with the people and business activities in their areas, so they are in the best position to notice hoarders of rice and other basic commodities.
Maambong and co-sponsor PB Member Agnes Magpale want barangay officials to “monitor, report, or apprehend hoarders.”
Maambong and Magpale also support the National Government’s campaign against hoarders, which includes the revocation of licenses of NFA retailers that have violated policies and the re-accreditation only of qualified grain traders.
Meanwhile, price discrepancies seem to support the view that letting the private sector import rice will help push prices down.
Rice imported by farmers’ cooperatives through the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) appear to cost just one-third the price of the same commodity being imported by the NFA.
Florante Ricarte, assistant assessment chief of the Bureau of Customs Port of Cebu, said that the latest NFA shipment is worth US$558 per metric ton. Three months ago, this was $300 per metric ton. One ton is equivalent to 20 sacks.
Last week, Xu Xuan Truong, Vietnam’s ambassador to the Philippines, said that from the last tender held earlier this month, prices of 25-percent broken white rice from Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan ranged from $618.50 to$735 per metric ton.
But Port of Cebu records showed that the rice imported by PITC in behalf of farmers’ cooperatives is bought from Vietnam at US$264 per metric ton only. This is even of a higher quality, 15-percent broken white rice.
Former Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Robert Go earlier said that business owners, given the authority to import, can buy rice from Vietnam or Thailand at a cheaper price than what government gets.
When told about PITC’s buying price, which is less than half of NFA’s buying price, NFA Cebu Provincial Manager Ramon Astilla theorized that PITC bought it a few months ago when Vietnam and Thailand did not raise their prices yet.
Astilla said that the price of rice in the world market is rising. From $300 per metric ton a few months ago, the price from Vietnam and other rice-producing countries now hovers at $700 to $800 per metric ton.
Ricky Gantuango, vice president of the Professional Customs Brokers Association of the Phils. (PCBAPI), said the disparity means that private businessmen can get a lower buying price than what is charged for a government-to-government transaction, where red tape is a problem.
Some PCBAPI members are also brokering for rice shipments.
Gantuangco said it is time for NFA to open its books and divulge how they negotiated with its Vietnamese or Thai counterparts.
Port of Cebu Chief of Assessment Carlos Corsiga explained that business owners can bargain for cheaper rice through the spot market. Unlike government-to-government transactions, which have to pass through different level of service, business owners can roam around warehouses and buy cheaper stocks, without passing through third parties. (JGA/EOB)
