SPEAKER Martin Romualdez said the House of Representatives will go after hoarders and profiteers amid continued rise in rice prices, while a congressman said price manipulation should be considered a heinous crime.
“QuintaComm will push forward because talagang napaka importante ang food security. Food security is national security. And there is no place for profiteers, smugglers, hoarders, or those opportunists… Sa mga profiteers diyan, unscrupulous traders, wholesalers, retailers, bantay kayo, because the QuintaComm will go after you,” Romualdez told reporters in a chance interview on Monday, Dec. 16.
The House Quinta Committee — also called the Murang Pagkain Super Committee, consisting of the Ways and Means, Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Food, and Social Services committees, as well as the Special Committee on Food Security — has conducted several hearings on issues connected to the high prices of food and food security.
Rice prices have continued to spike, amid tariff rates for imported rice being brought down from 35% to 15% this year in a bid to increase rice supply and bring down rice prices.
Zambales 1st District’s Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, meanwhile, proposed that price manipulation of food be considered a heinous crime.
He and other congressmen also backed Romualdez’s call for the creation of a government mega task force to go after price manipulators and unscrupulous traders.
During the previous Murang Pagkain Super Committee probe, House Deputy Speaker Jayjay Suarez called out the Bureau of Plant Industry for issuing import permits without exercising due diligence, given that the top two rice importers are under the same owner.
The top rice importers based on government records include: Bly Agri Venture Trading, Atara Marketing Inc., Orison Free Enterprise Inc., Macman Rice and Corn Trading, King B Company, Sodatrade Corp., Lucky Buy and Sell, Vitram Marketing Inc., Nan Stu Agri Traders and RBS Universal Grains Traders Corp.
Further, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed related directorships between RBS Universal Grains Trader Corp. and Sodatrade Corp.
Also on Monday, Romualdez also said Congress will also work on bringing down power cost after going after manipulators of rice prices. (GMA Integrated News)
