KMP, VACC hit cover-up of gov’t rice import scam

LUCENA CITY—A militant group of farmers and an anticrime watchdog group lambasted what they said was a cover-up being made on corruption in the government importation of rice, which the anticrime watchdog group said should be the focus of investigators, not a hunt for “ghosts.”

Antonio Flores, secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said in a phone interview that while prices of rice continued to soar even as farmers languished in poverty, government investigators were in search for a David Tan who is tagged the kingpin of rice smugglers.

In a statement, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said the government was taking the public on a “wild ride in search of imaginary villains to cover up for failed programs and real-life criminals.”

Dante Jimenez, VACC chair, said in the statement that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is “making a fuss over a bogeyman”, referring to reports about David Tan.

In the VACC statement, Jimenez said the government should focus its resources on fighting corruption and real cases of monopolies, citing the case it filed against a trader who had established “a cartel and monopoly of rice and garlic importation in connivance with some DA officials.”

The case, Jimenez said, “has been largely ignored” by the DA, prompting the VACC to file the case at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“We had to file the antimonopoly case because the DA did not act on our complaints,” said Jimenez.

“The department fails on its much-vaunted rice self-sufficiency target and suddenly there’s this epic chase for a man who is known only by an alias and whom no one has seen,” he added.

“Government resources are better spent on more important matters than a show of smoke and mirrors to cover up for a failed program,” he said.

KMP’s Flores said rice prices “remain high and unjust.”

According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the average retail price of well-milled rice is P39 per kilogram, which is 11.4-percent higher than prices last year. Regular milled rice costs P36 per kg, higher by 13 percent.

“The NFA (National Food Authority) is more concentrated on its questionable rice importation policy,” Flores said.

He called the rice importation policy of the NFA “legalized smuggling.”

According to the VACC statement, the case against smuggling involving real persons that it filed in the DOJ had not moved while the scandal over David Tan was being blown up.

In April last year, the NFA imported more than 200,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam, which is now being investigated for overpricing amounting to nearly P500 million.