BICOL Saro Partylist Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan pushed for a new law slapping stiffer penalties for rice and corn hoarders.
In a statement on Tuesday, Yamsuan stressed the need to update the 31-year old Price Act so it can effectively deter hoarding and profiteering of food staples.
“One of the reasons greedy and shameless traders are bold enough to hoard rice or corn even during difficult times is that the punishment imposed on them under the law is not harsh enough,” the lawmaker said.
“We need to amend the outdated Price Act to ensure that the penalties remain commensurate to the crimes committed, and include other acts and practices that should be deemed illegal but not covered under this law,” he added.
Yamsuan filed House Bill (HB) 7970, which classified the hoarding of rice and corn “during or on the occasion of any calamity, disaster, or any emergency declared as such by the President” as economic sabotage, which is punishable by reclusion perpetua or an imprisonment of 20 to 40 years.
The hoarding and profiteering of rice and corn in other circumstances is punishable under the bill by imprisonment of 10 to 20 years and a fine of P100,000 to P5 million.
Under the proposed legislation, persons with direct supervision and control of such establishments, where hoarding of rice or corn has been determined during times of emergency, disaster or calamity, will also face criminal liability.
It also expanded the definition of hoarding from merely being “undue accumulation” to “storage or possession” of any basic commodity or prime commodity beyond normal inventory levels “as determined by the implementing agency concerned,” which is the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the case of rice and corn.
A trader or any person will be found liable for hoarding if they have stocks that are 50 percent higher than his or her usual inventory, and refuses or fails to sell these to the public, or make such stocks “available in the regular channels of production, trade, commerce and industry.”
Specifically for rice and corn, the reference period for the determination of possible hoarding will be from the month immediately preceding before the discovery of the stocks respective of the date/time he started his business.
HB 7970 also established an anti-rice or corn hoarding and profiteering task forces to be composed by the following members: local chief executive of the local government unit (LGU) concerned as chair, with the local chief of police and one representative each from the local office of the DA, the farmers’ sector, and local consumers’ organization as members.
The task forces will regularly check the inventory levels of all mills, warehouses, and stock houses of rice and corn, and find out if these commodities are being hoarded, within their jurisdiction.
They will be required to submit monthly inventory reports to the DA.
Yamsuan said HB 7970 will help in the Marcos administration’s campaign against those engaged in hoarding, smuggling, and price fixing of agricultural commodities.