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Wednesday, June 04, 2008
House to probe rice hoarding in Mindanao
By Ben O. Tesiorna and Rhodamae M. Hernandez
DAVAO CITY -- The House of Representatives is set to conduct a full investigation on the sudden and unusual increase in the prices of rice in some key cities in Mindanao that is being blamed on rice hoarding.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he already ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the possible rice hoarding activity in Mindanao, which already triggered a surge in the prices of rice, from P34 a kilo two weeks ago to P50 per kilo at present.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
"I have called and requested the NBI director to send his elite task force and go after rice hoarders, inspect warehouses and others. Mindanao is the food basket and it is impossible that our rice prices are high unless there is hoarding to affect supply and demand of the staple," Nograles said.
The NBI-Southeastern Mindanao Regional Office (Semro) received Tuesday a directive from its national office to conduct monitoring and raids, in coordination with NFA regional office, on warehouses suspected to be hoarding rice.
Related stories:
Rice prices in Mindanao reach P50 a kilo
DOJ to resume anti-rice hoarding drive
Price control will lead to chaos: DTI
Trade secretary: Leave NFA rice for the poor
NBI-Semro spokesperson Arcelito C. Albao said that based on the memorandum of agreement (MOA), which they signed with the NFA, they are authorized to conduct monitoring on rice manipulations and hoarding.
"As of now, we are conducting series of meetings with the NFA as the lead agency. We are just waiting for the (NFA) signal to conduct raids. They have field investigators who were also conducting monitoring on warehouses, traders, and retailers," Albao told Sun.Star Davao.
Albao also confirmed that two teams from the NBI-Manila will be arriving in Davao City anytime soon to assist on the investigation.
Big rice traders
A report from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) revealed some big rice traders in Mindanao allegedly engage in hoarding available supplies of rice, which forced prices of rice to go up artificially.
Palawan Representative Abraham Mitra, chair of House committee on agriculture, said they will conduct a rice retail survey in Mindanao as part of a scheduled consultation with farmers and other agricultural sector stakeholders in Cagayan de Oro on Thursday.
Mitra said they will not allow unscrupulous traders to take advantage of the rice problem as he appealed to NFA to address the problem by making additional deliveries in strategic areas to ensure equitable distribution of rice in affected provinces.
Nograles, for his part, warned rice hoarders that they could be charged criminally and without bail if arrested. "We ought to file charges for economic sabotage and grant no bail for them," he said.
Peace and order
Initiatives for Peace (In Peace) in Mindanao, on the other hand, warned that the rice crisis would mean more unstable peace and order situation for the island.
"Grumbling stomachs and grumbling political sentiments are a potent combination. Clearly, rice is becoming an economic problem with dire political consequences if the rising prices are not decisively and immediately curbed," said Bishop Felixberto Calang of In Peace Mindanao in a statement.
He added that long queues of the poor availing of NFA rice, which no longer deserves to be called "cheap rice," are taking shape as a political indication of both disgruntlement and impoverishment of the people under the Arroyo administration.
"It (rice crisis) is a situation forced upon on the people because the Arroyo government refuses to rescind the policy of land-use conversion that is clearly responsible for the loss of the country's food security and food sovereignty," said Calang. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (June 4, 2008 issue)
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