Gov’t agents raid Cebu warehouse, find imported rice

CEBU, Philippines – Authorities raided Wednesday a Mandaue City warehouse that yielded at about 30,000 sacks of rice imported from Vietnam, Sun.Star Cebu reported Thursday. The report said a joint team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the National Food Authority organized the raid. The Sun.Star quoted lawyer Ernesto Macabare said that operation was not about the rice importation itself, but about the apparently illegal warehousing activity, Businessman Regan King, owner the shipment, told the Sun.Star that the rice importation and its storage at the warehouse were above-board. He blasted the NBI and NFA for conducting the raid, saying they are only delaying the release of the rice and compounding the supply shortage that is driving prices up. “Our importation can really help increase the supply and stop the shortage," King told the Sun.Star. Gerald Plaza, a colleague of King, also told Sun.Star that the NBI and NFA by seizing the rice, are forcing them to pay higher warehousing fees–an expense that they are forced to transfer to the consumers by hiking the price per kilo. However, public information officer Edgar Diez of the National Food Authority (NFA) said the warehouse is not among those authorized by the NFA for rice storage and warehousing. - Sun.Star