Troops guard rice distribution in Manila
April 21, 2008 -- Got something to say?
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Capt. Carlo Ferrer, Armed Forces National Capital Region Command (NCRCOM) spokesman, said soldiers in 21 military trucks will help NFA personnel hand out packs of rice in Gagalangin, Capulong and Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila; and Barangays Commonwealth and Vasra in Quezon City.
“NCRCOM would also provide security aside from assisting in the transport of NFA rice to distribution areas in highly populated and depressed areas in the NCR,” he said.
More military vehicles will be deployed to augment the NFA within the eek on orders of President Arroyo, Ferrer said.
“Our first initiative is to ask for the help of Filipinos who can give us information because we are not here to witch-hunt,” he said.
Gonzalez said government agents had started swooping down on illegal rice traders in Cebu City and that 111 other traders in Luzon were also on his list.
Gonzalez said he had ordered agents from the National Bureau of Investigation to ?be very rigid in looking? for evidence against rice hoarders.
Gonzalez said only rice hoarders were being targeted, and that traders and warehouse owners found to be legitimate need not fear.
“This is an emergency situation, they should understand,” he said.
Police nationwide are also under orders to arrest rice hoarders and traders diverting government-subsidized rice to the market.
Director Silverio Alarcio Jr., Philippine National Police operations director, said police will also guard rice storage facilities, government food warehouses, and NFA-accredited rice warehouses against possible pilferage.
“If it is necessary that we should tail all trucks hauling NFA rice to ensure that the cargo does not end up in illegal warehouses, we will do that and hit hard on the hoarders who are causing this artificial crisis,” he said.
Alarcio said police will also help the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agriculture, NFA and local government units in monitoring prices of basic commodities, especially rice.
“Police action is being initiated to preempt the possible impact on peace and order of the increase in prices of rice and other basic commodities,” he said.
Arroyo and NFA officials inspected a rice outlet in Manila April 3 and found that it does not have the necessary papers. “This is not a raid,” she told reporters. “We’re here to see how the inspection is done. The rice must be hoarded if they are not recorded.”
The Isabela Greenfields Corp. at the corner of Figueroa and Perdigones streets in Paco, Manila was found to lack records on their rice inventory. The warehouse had 7,733 sacks of rice, but the firm’s record book indicated that only 1,300 sacks were delivered.
Unscrupulous traders are depicting a scenario of an unfolding rice crisis to panic the public and take advantage of the situation, the NFA said.
Speaking to reporters at the Usapang Daungan sa Danarra hotel, NFA spokesman Rex Estoperez said the NFA and the police are inspecting warehouses in Metro Manila to prevent the hoarding of rice.
“Speculation is again at work,” he said. “There is no shortage of rice, we have enough stocks.”
Estoperez said dishonest traders are trying to justify the existence of a rice crisis to raise prices.
Speculation has triggered panic buying among consumers, leading to an artificial rice shortage, he added.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Filipino farmers should receive aid from their government, given the rising cost of production for rice, corn, sugar and other crops.
Soaring prices of fertilizer and crop losses have made it increasingly difficult for Filipino farmers to produce rice and earn a reasonable profit, he added.
On the other hand, Sen. Francis Escudero decried the announcement of Arroyo that the import tariff on rice will be retained. “This is lamentable because if the tariff is passed on to the consumers the price of rice will shoot through the roof at between P46 and P48 a kilo,” he said.
Escudero said retaining the rice tariff was motivated by the desire to “spruce up” the government?s revenue report card to continue booking NFA tariff payments as revenues.
Pimentel criticized the World Bank for discouraging the grant of state subsidies to rice farmers.
“The World Bank should explain why it says it is ruinous for our government to subsidize our rice farmers, but not when Japan, Thailand, the US and other countries subsidize their farmers,” he said.
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