Rising rice prices hound Quezon folk

LUCENA CITY—Rising rice prices, in one case by as much as P15 per kilogram, remain to be the biggest concern of local consumers and traders amid tirades directed at the agriculture department over what its critics said was the department’s attempt to use a businessman tagged smuggling kingpin as a fall guy in the continued “legal smuggling” of rice.

Take the case of carpenter Angelito Brosas, interviewed at the public market here. “The government can put the blame on Tan, Bangayan or just anybody they want but I simply don’t care,” he said.

Or that of teacher Lydia Pastor. “If we are really rice sufficient, how come the price of rice remains high compared to the past administration?” she said also in an interview at the market.

In a statement, lawyer Argee Guevarra said he believed that all the hype about businessman David Bangayan and alleged smuggling kingpin David Tan is part of the search for what he said is a fall guy to divert public attention away from the plunder charge he filed last year at the Ombudsman against Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and other top Department of Agriculture (DA) officials for plunder over the importation of allegedly overpriced Vietnam rice.

David Tan, Guevarra said in his statement, is just a “phantom” created as a smokescreen for much bigger anomalies at the DA.

Hong Kong national

Quoting informants, Guevarra said the real David Tan is a Hong Kong national who was a business partner of a top DA official. Guevarra asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look deeper into this piece of information.

Guevarra, head of the group Sanlakas, pressed for the investigation of “the real David Tans in the DA.”

At the public market here, Pastor said she now buys dinorado rice for P15 per kg higher than she used to.

Records showed that under the Arroyo administration, imported rice supplied by the National Food Authority (NFA) was bought for $710 per metric ton and sold for P18 per kg. Under the Aquino administration, however, imported rice was bought for $429 per metric ton and sold for P28-P36 per kg.

A top official of the Federation of Philippine Industries has tagged businessman David Bangayan as the alleged smuggler David Tan.

Bangayan presented himself at the Department of Justice on Tuesday and denied before Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that he is David Tan.

No help to farmers

Another militant lawmaker, Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap, said the controversy being generated by reports about David Tan doesn’t help in the fight against smuggling.

Hicap said the NFA should make public its list of accredited rice traders with importation permits. He said the continued importation by NFA of rice constitutes “legal rice smuggling.”

In his statement, Sanlakas’ Guevarra said the moment authorities erred in referring to Bangayan as Davao-based, he already started to doubt the credibility of those pointing to Bangayan as David Tan.