|
By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez
on Friday warned rice dealers that the government will not hesitate
to use its police powers, including taking over rice warehouses, to
protect the interest and welfare of the people, if warranted.
Gonzalez made the warning after
rice traders and dealers threatened to go on a “rice holiday” or
stop selling rice in reaction to an earlier move by the National
Food Authority (NFA) to suspend the licenses of some of their
members as a move against hoarding and overpricing.
The Justice secretary explained
that the state is vested by the Constitution with the legal
authority to adopt preemptive measures to avert possible chaos and
lawlessness that may arise in certain situations, such as stopping
the selling of rice.
The rice traders claimed that
they will be at a disadvantage if the NFA bars them from retailing
rice, even if only temporarily.
Such threat against the
government, Gonzalez said, is unacceptable because rice traders have
the duty to sell rice to the people.
“We will not accept that. They
[dealers] should also know their obligation to the people. If they
do that, we will take over their warehouses, we will use police
powers vested in us in the Constitution,” he told reporters.
The Justice chief said stopping
selling of rice amounts to hoarding and is considered economic
sabotage, a non-bailable offense that is punishable with life
imprisonment.
A rice holiday would mean hunger
to millions of poor families who live hand-to-mouth.
There are some 5,000 rice
retailers in Metro Manila alone. Rice-trading groups earlier
threatened to stage a rice holiday that involves the 5,000
retailers.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap
appealed to the rice traders for their patience and understanding.
The Justice department, through
the newly created Anti-Rice Hoarding Task Force, is working with the
Agriculture department and the food authority in building up
possible cases against rice hoarders.
Also on Friday, it mobilized all
government prosecutors throughout the country to ensure speedy
prosecution of rice traders and dealers found violating the law.
“We mean business here. These
rice hoarders are giving the government a lot of headache,”
Gonzalez said even as he gave his assurance that due process will be
strictly observed in all phases of operations against the hoarders.
He disclosed that aside from Cebu
and Bulacan, the task force is also targeting a number of warehouses
in his home province of Iloilo in the Visayas region.
“I went to the National Bureau
of Investigation in Iloilo to inspect some warehouses there, it
seems there is a similar situation there,” Gonzalez said. “I
instructed the [bureau] to gather more evidence.”
He stressed, though, that
warehouses found full of sacks of rice do not necessarily mean that
their owners are rice hoarders.
“If we inspect the warehouse of
a suspected hoarder, we will have to see how fast rice is brought in
or out,” Gonzalez said. “If the movement of rice there is fast
and if the owner can present the corresponding documents to prove
it, there would be no basis to charge the trader.”
On orders of President Gloria
Arroyo, Gonzalez formed the task force last Wednesday as the
prosecutorial arm of the government’s campaign against rice
hoarding.
In creating the task force, he
said, he wanted rice hoarders charged with “economic sabotage,”
a non-bailable offense punishable with life imprisonment. According
to him, they could also be charged with plunder, another unbailable
offense that used to carry the death penalty. President Arroyo had
abolished capital punishment, though.
The task force is also looking at
so-called rice cartels that reportedly corner government-subsidized
rice in connivance with allegedly corrupt personnel of the NFA. The
cartels later repack and sell government rice at much higher prices
in the retail market.
|
