MANILA, Philippines—OPPOSITION SENATORS FRANCIS “CHIZ” ESCUDERO AND Loren Legarda tuesday suggested that officials close to Malacañang may have made kickbacks of as much as P13.1 billion from the allegedly overpriced rice imports from Vietnam last December.

The two said they suspected high-ranking officials in the National Food Authority and the Department of Agriculture of having financially benefited from the government-to-government transaction.

According to a Reuters report, the Philippines paid almost $550 a ton for 1.5 million tons of rice that it bought from Vietnam earlier this year, far more than initially estimated.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap did not disclose how much the government had paid, but said the differential was not unusual for a government contract and that it was “a good deal at the time.”

Deserving scrutiny

Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said that the Reuters report that the Philippines had paid 45 percent more for its Vietnamese rice importations deserved scrutiny.

“This is not just a question of overprice, which could mean another example of gargantuan government corruption. There is also the long-range need for the Philippines to stop being dependent on importations for its food staple,” she said.

Escudero said his “estimates show that the government may have lost [from] P5.7 billion to P13.1 billion in kickbacks in the importation of 1.5 million tons of rice from Vietnam early this year.”

He said the alleged kickbacks were more than enough to pay for the P4.5-billion budget for farm-to-market roads and P3.3 billion allocated for the purchase of fertilizers in 2009.

Reviewing policy

Legarda said it was necessary to review and revise the government’s rice production policy to save the country from the huge costs of rice importation.

With a burgeoning population and long experience in intensive rice cultivation, it is difficult to understand why the Philippines has plunged from rice sufficiency to dependence, she said.

“The only reason for this is government inefficiency or the adoption of the wrong policy,” she said.

Escudero said the rice-import dependent policy would only continue to weaken the agriculture sector and further entrench rural poverty.

What the government should do is boost domestic rice production by giving farmers incentives.

One way to lessen dependence on imported rice is to plant other grains that can be bartered for rice, he said.

Escudero cited an Oxfam International saying that rice production in the country would fall from 50 to 70 percent by 2020.

Falling yield

The Oxfam report said rice-producing countries will be hit hard by climate change, and that farm yields will drop by an average of 10 percent for every one-degree-Celsius rise in global temperature.

This should spur the next administration to reverse this rice-import dependent policy, said Escudero.

Agriculture officials insisted on Monday that the price of rice imports from Vietnam in December ranged from $456 to $459 per ton, contrary to claims that it was only $380 per ton.

“Based on the December rates, the Philippine government obtained a good deal at the time because the actual import price agreed upon by Manila and Hanoi was $549.50, when you include the add-on costs like freight, bid and performance bonds, surveyor’s fees, and the cost of money arising from the Philippine government’s payment of the imports not in cash but on a deferred credit basis of six months,” Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said in a statement on Monday.

“There was no $380 per metric ton rice in December last year,” Fondevilla said.