Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has served notice to both rice hoarders and law enforcers that she will not settle for less than a "jail-the-culprits" drive against saboteurs of the country's rice supply.
This appeared to be the unspoken message that the President wanted to put across to both rice hoarders and members of the joint task force composed of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the National Food Authority (NFA) investigating rice-hoarding cases.
From the Villamor Air Base in Paranaque -- where her plane landed yesterday at the end of her four-day trip down South for the launching of the Central Nautical Highway (CNH) of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway(SRNH) -- the President went straight to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Padre Faura St., Malate, Manila to look into the status of cases of rice hoarding being investigated by the joint probe team.
Late last month, the President had directed the NBI and the DOJ to assist the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) in the "investigation of hoarders and price manipulators of rice."
The presidential directive led to the creation of the Joint NBI-NFA Task Force on Anti-Rice Hoarders, with the specific task of unmasking rice hoarders and filing the appropriate charges against the suspects.
Aside from the joint NBI-NFA task force, the DOJ also created its own Anti-Rice Hoarding Task Force (ARHTF) to "adopt prompt, expeditious and urgent measures to stop and prevent rice hoarding and related crimes as these are considered pernicious acts of economic sabotage."
The ARHTF was formed to "handle proceedings on inquest, preliminary investigation and prosecution of all cases relating to unlawful acts or omissions inimical to the preservation and protection of the country's rice supply under Section 29 of Presidential Decree No. 4," which provides for the "development of the rice and corn industry." - Source: Philippine News Agency
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