INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Several rice traders allegedly being used as dummies by rice smugglers finally appeared before the Senate Monday after snubbing previous hearings on the matter.
Dennis Gonzalez, Mary Joyce Lim, Michael Villanueva, Inigo Espiritu, Eugene Pioquinto, Jenny Reyes, and Sandra Lim, among others, apologized to the Committee on Agriculture and Food for their absence in previous hearings.
The Bureau of Customs had previously seized P500 million worth of imported rice at the Subic Bay Port. The 420,000 sacks of rice did not have the appropriate documents, according to Customs Commissioner Rudolfo Biazon.
When each of the traders was asked by committee chairman Francis Pangilinan what their reasons were for not attending the hearings, they each said they were afraid because it was the first time they were called before the Senate.
They also said they feared they would be jailed because of the arrest warrants issued against them by the Senate.
The Senate was investigating the alleged rice smuggling that occurred at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone exposed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in a privilege speech last July 25.
When further asked by the committee, they all pointed to a certain Willie Sy as their financial backer who promised to pay them in exchange for selling the alleged smuggled rice in the local market.
They said they were offered P100,000 if they won the bidding for the rice and P5 per sack of rice sold in the local market.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who was not satisfied with the answers of the rice traders saying they were lying, urged them to come clean and reveal the modus operandi of the mastermind of the rice smuggling.
Enrile said that the Senate understands that these rice traders were just used by whoever was the mastermind behind the smuggling and that they have no intention of punishing them as long as they cooperate.
When directly asked by Senator Jinggoy Estrada on whether they were dummy companies used by Willie Sy, some admitted yes while others said they were not.
The Senate had also previously issued arrest warrants against Dexter Marfil of Masagana Import-Export Incorporated, Magdangal Diego Maralit Bayani III of St. Andrews Field Grains and Cereals Trading, and Protik Guha, chief executive officer of Indian company Amira Foods, the three alleged main players in the smuggling.
All three are still being hunted by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Immigration because they are believed to have left the country.