SOME unscrupulous rice traders are hoarding rice to the detriment of our poor countrymen who must struggle to eat three square meals a day. They should be held liable for violating Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
Also, the Department of Agriculture should charge with economic sabotage the owners of warehouses stockpiling and repacking National Food Authority (NFA) rice and passing them off as expensive commercial rice.
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.
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.
Relative to rice importation, there must be full disclosure and transparency – keys to dismantling rice cartel.
Replacement of import quotas with tariffs would not dismantle the rice cartels. The government rosters of rice importers and traders must be purged of smugglers, economic saboteurs, hoarders, and tax evaders.
It is still business as usual for rice cartels because they control the underlying system and internal architecture of rice importation and distribution. Their control of that system is not addressed by any of the bills on rice tariffication. But revoking their licenses and permits to import rice will deal a serious blow to the rice cartels.
Rice cartel members are able to operate with impunity because their identities are hidden from public view. Isn’t it curious that the lists or registries of licensed or accredited rice importers and traders are not front page material on the websites of the NFA, the Bureau of Plant Industry, Bureau of Customs, Department of Trade and Industry, and Bureau of Internal Revenue — the five agencies which are supposed to have those lists and supporting documents?
It is time to bring those names out of the shadows through transparent and verifiable full disclosure on the website of the Department of Agriculture of the names, executives, and contact numbers and electronic records of all transaction details of all rice importers and traders, as well as their freight forwarders and warehouses.
There must be a rigorous vetting process, with the crucial involvement of civil society watchdog organizations, that will purge of the lists of rice importers and traders. Yes, there must be a detailed audit and forensic examination of all the processes and documents in the rice importation cycle.
