Makati Mayor Abby Binay. PHOTO FROM HER OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE

MANILA, Philippines — Makati Mayor Abby Binay is calling for more aggressive measures against cartels and smugglers to effectively address rice price surges.

Binay made this appeal as she welcomed the proposed declaration of a national food security emergency to enable the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy rice stocks from local farmers and sell them at a lower price.

“Reaching 4,000 stores is an incredible milestone that reflects the trust and loyalty we’ve earned from our customers over the years. It’s also a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our team” Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC) co-founder and chairman of the board Jose Pardo said in a statement Tuesday.

“Nearly 3 billion people and more than half of the world’s food production are now in areas where total water storage is projected to decline,” said the report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW).

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“Sa dami ng mga batas natin when it comes to cartel, profiteering, bakit wala pa yatang nakakulong? … Pati smuggler, ‘pag nahuli, ‘di naman nila ipinapakita, hindi nila inilalabas. Sinasabi lang nila iba-blacklist…pero ang tanong, mayroon ba tayong nasampolan man lang?” asked Binay, who is eyeing a seat at the Senate via the May polls, in an interview with DZBB.

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( With the many laws we have when it comes to cartel, profiteering, why is it that no one has been jailed yet? … Even smugglers, when they are caught, they are not presented or they do not show them. They just say they will be blacklisted… but the question is, have we punished anyone as an example?)

READ: DA sets imported rice price cap at P58/kg 

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“If wala po tayong naipapakita na seryoso ang gobyerno sa pagpapatupad ng batas, then paulit-ulit na gagawin ng mga cartel o mga sindikato na malalakas ang loob na magkontrol ng presyo,” she added.

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(If the government cannot show how serious it is in enforcing the law, then rice cartels or syndicates will only repeatedly manipulate and control rice prices.)

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Binay believes that declaring a national food security emergency would provide relief amid increasing rice prices although, she noted, this may only be temporary if the “middlemen” still exist.

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READ: MSRP of imported rice should be P51 not P58 per kilo

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“Rice prices would go down if the government directly buys rice products from local farmers, without going through middlemen,” she said.

In 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. enacted the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act (AGES), which imposes stiffer penalties against smugglers and hoarders, including cartels, of agricultural food products.

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Under the law, violators face a fine five times the value of smuggled or hoarded agricultural or fishery productsdc188, and life imprisonment if proven guilty.

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