(Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House quinta-committee (quinta-comm) overall chairman, Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda wants to know whether or not the country’s rice importers are involved in financial shenanigans.

Salceda--during the fifth hearing of quinta-comm on Tuesday, Jan. 28--disclosed that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) were investigating rice importers to uncover any illegal profits or undeclared earnings.

“If we cannot catch them by their declarations here, we will catch them by [ALMC],” said the economist-solon.

Salceda also confirmed that bank records and tax filings of importers were being examined.

“Pinatingnan na rin natin sa BIR para klaro (For clarity, we've also asked the BIR) if they’re making obscene profits or if not they’re not declaring. So we’ll do an Al Capone. We will catch them where it hurts,” the Bicolano said.

During the hearing of the so-called "Murang Pagkain Super-committee", some House members theorized that the cost of rice--the Filipino staple food--was being driven up by importers.

Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo said in particular that importers might be leveraging both imported and local rice stocks to control prices. This was the pattern observed in the onion industry when it was probed by the House.

“If the importing entity is also the one that purchases the local produce, then they now control both local and imported, which was what we found with the onion cartel,” she said.

Rice importers dictating price?

Bulacan 2nd district Rep. Tina Pancho agreed, as she highlighted the cascading effects of the pricing decisions of importers on the supply chain.

“I agree with the Hon. Stella Quimbo that we cannot disregard the participation of [the] importer kung bakit nagkaroon tayo ng price increase (as to why we're having a price increase),” Pancho argued.

“Ang importer ang magdi-dictate ng price eh (It's the importers who will dictate the prices),” she added.

But Salceda pointed out that imported rice only accounts for 22 percent of the country’s supply, compared to the 78 percent sourced locally.

“How can 22 percent dictate 78 percent? Then it’s not the importer anymore,” Salceda said.

He nevertheless acknowledged the need for thorough scrutiny of the financial and operational practices of rice importers.