|
ALL fund
releases to ensure adequate supply of affordable rice in
the country would be used only for the intended purpose
and would be fully accounted for, Malacañang assured on
Thursday.
Press
Secretary Ignacio Bunye was reacting to the call of Sen.
Francis Escudero for Malacañang to make an “itemized
spending” of the billions of pesos that President Arroyo
has released to keep local rice supply stable.
In
another interview at the Palace Reception Hall, Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez threatened to file charges of
economic sabotage against rice hoarders, as well as
retailers planning to go on rice holiday over the
cancellation of their National Food Authority (NFA)
license.
In an
interview with Palace reporters, Gonzalez also said
government officials found to be in cahoots with rice
hoarders face plunder raps.
“We are
not here to witchhunt but to see to it that the crimes,
if at all, will have to be stopped. There can be a
possibility of [filing cases of] economic sabotage or
even plunder,” he said.
He said
the government has begun prosecuting cases against rice
hoarders. “We have started prosecuting already. We have
started in Cebu and we are trying to get the names of
those 111 warehouses in Bulacan,” Gonzalez said.
On
Thursday afternoon, President Arroyo made a surprise
inspection of a warehouse of a rice trader in Paco,
Manila,
to check whether it has been declaring its stockpile of
rice and to observe how NFA conducts the inspection, and
as part of efforts to deter hoarding.
The
President went to the warehouse of the Isabela
Greenfield Corp. with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap,
National Bureau of Investigation head Nestor Mantaring
and NFA officials.
She was
piqued upon learning that the warehouse had no record
book to account for 7,733 sacks of rice there, when
warehouses are required to have a record book in their
premises. |
