THE chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means yesterday said the worst case of price manipulation involving rice importation, which cost the country billions, happened under the Duterte administration.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who also chairs of newly formed supercommittee tasked to look into soaring food prices, cited the need for accountability, saying the previous government’s failure was what allowed cartels to exploit the country’s food supply.
“The biggest case of price manipulation in the agricultural sector remains to be the cornering of import permits in 2016-2018,” Salceda told the inaugural hearing of the five joint panels.
Salceda’s panel is joined by the House Committees on Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Food, Social Services, and the Special Committee on Food Security in the “Supercommittee on Cheap Food,” which was formed under Speaker Martin Romualdez’ House Resolution (HR) No. 254.
The supercommittee was created to address issues in the country’s food supply chain, including price manipulation, smuggling, and hunger.
Salceda said Romualdez ordered the inquiry “to address smuggling and price manipulation of basic goods and essential commodities with the end of achieving zero hunger and promoting food security, along with social protection.”
“Laws are in place to guarantee that every Filipino family has food on their tables, yet this is still a dream for many. We want to uncover the gaps that we need to plug to achieve this goal, and if needed, the personalities that should be made accountable for making this goal difficult to achieve,” he added.
Salceda recalled how the private sector control over rice importation and the manipulation of import permits during the period led to a significant spike in rice prices in 2018, when consumers coughed up to P8 more per kilo of rice which he blamed to massive rice importation.
He requested the NFA to furnish the joint panel a list of individuals and corporations granted rice import permits from 2016 to 2018, and to the Bureau of Customs for a detailed record of all rice import arrivals during the same period.
“We reserve the right to invoke subpoena powers to secure these documents,” Salceda said.
He estimated the total economic loss at P88.6 billion, saying the problem only eased after the Rice Tariffication Law abolished the permit system administered by the National Food Authority in 2019.
Until now, he said, it remains to be known who in the private sector were granted rice importation permits by the NFA during the two-year period.
