President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday exposed the modus operandi of unscrupulous traders who smuggle rice into the country and release it only when the artificial shortage they themselves created had driven up prices of the staple grain.
The practice of smuggling and hoarding has been imposing unnecessary hardship on Filipinos, Marcos said, as he justified the distribution of the seized smuggled rice to poor Filipinos.
He said he cannot allow smugglers to thrive at the expense of the government’s objective of ensuring food security and improving the agriculture sector.
“They first smuggle rice into the country, and once it’s here in the Philippines, they won’t release it to the market, making it unavailable for purchase,” he said. “They only release it when prices are high, so they can make a substantial profit.”
During the distribution of rice to beneficiaries at the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila on Tuesday, he said the government is committed to modernizing agriculture and increasing yield and supply.
Marcos said the government is working to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector, including launching the Kadiwa program to connect food producers with consumers directly and providing farmers with modern machinery, infrastructure, research and support.
“The rice we are distributing today comes from supplies seized at the Zamboanga Port, which was proven to have not gone through the legal importation process,” the President said. “Instead of wasting this rice, we have decided to distribute it to those in need.”
Marcos on Tuesday emphasized the importance of the National Food Authority’s role in maintaining a sufficient rice buffer stock sourced from local farmers.
He highlighted two significant initiatives: The SARAI Project, the Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines Project, and the NFA Modernization Program.