NBI joins probe on missing Zamboanga rice

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was instructed yesterday by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to join the probe into 7,015 sacks of suspected smuggled rice that went missing in Zamboanga City last Sept. 30. 

While the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has begun looking into the disappearance of the alleged contraband, Guevarra said the NBI would be sending a team to help in the investigation.

“I will leave it to NBI Director Dante Gierran to determine if his agents down south could do a credible investigation or the Anti-Smuggling Task Force at the head office should do it,” Guevarra said. 

President Duterte reportedly was upset when he learned that the rice had gone missing.

Earlier, three vessels carrying 23,015 sacks of rice were intercepted by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP). These were turned over to the BOC for inventory and issuance of warrant of seizure and detention. 

As of its Oct. 2 inventory, the BOC accounted for 16,000 sacks – 7,015 less than the load confiscated by the PCG, PDEA and ISAFP. 

BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapeña, with the approval of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, has moved Port of Zamboanga (POZ) district collector Lyceo Martinez and Customs police officer-in-charge Filomeno Salazar to the compliance monitoring unit or the “freezer.” 

Martinez will be replaced by POZ acting deputy collector for operations Darwisha Schuck while Salazar was replaced by Special Police Lieutenant Joshua Mangula as POZ Customs Police District commander.

Meanwhile, state-run National Food Authority (NFA) has clarified that it does not charge P115,000 for retail licensing after supermarkets are now selling government subsidized rice.

NFA maintained that it charges P165 to P11,000, depending on capitalization for a rice retailer’s license, and not P115,000 as claimed by the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association.

“Based on the NFA rules on licensing, application fee for single-line business is only P110 while multi-line business application fee is only P165. Additional fee for license to retail depends on capitalization,” NFA said in a statement.

“Retailers with capitalization up to P10,000 are only charged P165 while the maximum is P11,000 for retailers with capitalization of more than P1 million,” NFA added.

In Bicol, the NFA has increased the distribution of the staple so that its poor beneficiaries can buy more.

“I ordered our provincial managers to increase the rice supply distribution to our outlets so our beneficiaries who are households below the poverty line can buy more of the commodity,” said Henry Tristeza, NFA regional manager for Bicol.

Tristeza said NFA’s  participation in the region’s rice market is at 23 percent.

“But we are trying our best to hit 40 percent participation rate so we can bring down inflation through adequate rice supply in Bicol,” Tristeza added. – With Louise Maureen Simeon, Celso Amo