Gov't raids warehouses of ‘Mosquito Gang’ in Isabela

MANILA, Philippines - Operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation, joined by representatives from the Bureau of Immigration and National Food Authority, on Wednesday raided several warehouses owned by the so-called “Mosquito Gang" in Isabela province. In a report from GMA’s 24 Oras, Jiggy Manicad said the operatives were able to find thousands of sacks containing rice in the two warehouses they raided in Alicia town. The raid was conducted a week after GMA News featured an exclusive story on the group of foreign nationals allegedly involved in rice hoarding in Isabela, the second largest rice producing province in the country next to Nueva Ecija. Seven Chinese nationals, two of them warehouse owners, were invited by the raiding team for questioning, the television report said. According to the lawyer Dante Pua of the NBI, the owners of the warehouses were not able to present warehousing licenses to the operatives. “They have an application for milling and application for transporting, but they don’t have application for warehousing," Pua said. But according to Lara Tan, one of those invited by the NBI, they did not apply for a warehousing license because the NFA did not tell them to. Another warehouse owner, Nestor Uy, who claimed to be a village official in Gamu, Isabela, denied they are involved in hoarding. Isabela residents said the “mosquito gang" is named as such because of its members’ propensity to lurk around rice fields during harvest time to buy palay directly from the farmers. - GMANews.TV