Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, during an unscheduled privilege speech last week, was among the very first officials in government to have blown his top regarding the brazen attempt to smuggle a P500-million rice shipment into the country.
In an unscheduled privilege speech, Enrile, who was the commissioner of the Bureau of Customs in the 1960s during the time of former President Marcos, expressed extreme umbrage at the gall of certain individuals in trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the entire bureaucracy regarding some 420, 000 50-kilogram sacks of milled rice from India (the equivalent of 8, 400 tons) which landed at the Subic Freeport last April 2012 and are now stored in warehouses there, saying further this would inflict untold  hardships on thousands of rice farmers who rely on sales of the cereal to support their families.
If the authorities were to simply sit on their hands and permit the smuggled rice to flood the local market, this would bring about an artificial glut of the commodity whose effect would be to pull down prices. In such a situation, consumers would come out the winners due to the depressed rice prices, but in the long run this could have a telling effect on the rice industry which could take years to rectify. Instead of achieving rice self-sufficiency which is the goal of this current administration, and down the road becoming a net rice exporter as it once was before, the country would end up forever relying on other countries for rice just to feed its population.
During a public inquiry participated in by the Senate committees on agriculture, ways and means, trade and commerce and accountability of public officers which was spawned by Enrile’s impassioned expose regarding the nitty-gritty of the foiled rice smuggle try, there were several salient points ferreted out by senators led by Francis Pangilinan, the committee chairman, Ralph Recto, Edong Angara, Loren Legarda and Enrile himself pointing to a “suspected conspiracy” between some officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), the Indian firm Amira C Foods International of India and certain locals identified with the so-called “Indian connection” that is alleged to have close ties with former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
It was revealed to us by sources that sometime in 2002, at the height of Mrs. Arroyo’s popularity immediately prior to the infamous “Hello Garci” affair, Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis party-list group filed a resolution in the lower chamber seeking a congressional probe into another rice importation anomaly facilitated by the Indian connection amounting to some P9.5 billion.
Naturally, this never got to first base since the congressmen led by Speaker Joe de Venecia didn’t want to touch it with a 10-foot pole as the illegal importation was allegedly go-signaled by Mr. Arroyo who was already in fund-raising mode in preparation for the 2004 presidential elections wherein his wife would be running.
And his henchmen in the scheme and primary fund-raisers were the same Indian businessmen who were fixtures in the office of his wife while she was still undersecretary in the Department of Trade and head of the Garments and Textiles Export Board (GTEB).
During the joint hearing, Enrile had insisted that the Subic rice shipment should be subject to immediate forfeiture procedures because it was really intended for the Philippine market.
Initially, to avoid its seizure, the scenario being peddled by Metro Eastern Trading Corp. (METC), a Subic locator whose warehouse was contracted for the storage of the shipment, was that the rice had been shipped by the New Delhi-based Amira Foods to Indonesia, but was rejected by authorities. To cut further losses, METC representatives alleged the shipment was diverted to the Subic Freeport and temporarily stored in their facilities until a buyer could be found.
Enrile claimed he had information that this wasn’t the first time that such an elaborate operation was carried out within the SBMA. He said that smugglers wouldn’t dare bring in the illegal rice importation without assurances from insiders that their investment would be safe.
Under intense grilling by Enrile and the rest, METC executives relented and admitted that the rice was intended for the Philippines. In fact, they alleged they were sought out by SBMA senior deputy administrator for trade and investment Stefani Sano to help in keeping the rice and looking for an adequate buyer in the Philippines (Sano has denied ever brokering a meeting between METC and Amira).
Also tagged as facilitators of the smuggled rice deal were a certain “Cuevas” who was supposed to have been very influential in the past administration due to highly-placed relatives, a certain “Protik” who is connected with Amira India and a still-unidentified Indian businessman.
And here’s the clincher. Upon the questioning of Senator Recto, METC officials claimed that the plan was really to sell the rice locally and that Sano allegedly asked them for assistance.
National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Lito Banayo made the disclosure that Amira wasn’t among the list of authorized suppliers abroad.
SBMA officials led by administrator Robert Garcia were also taken to task by the senators for allowing the rice to be unloaded when it didn’t have an import permit from the NFA.
In his Sona last July, President Aquino said one of his priorities is for the country to be self-sufficient by 2013.

Former Senate President Nene Pimentel is raising quite a fuss that the President’s Bridge Program (PBP) had been placed in limbo due to the incessant meddling of an influential Visayan legislator, who played a major role in the Corona impeachment proceedings, in behalf of his favored contractor.
According to Pimentel, the father of incumbent Sen. Koko Pimentel, he sees the PBP as vital to the development of Mindanao, which an estimated 30 million Filipinos call their home, because it can provide the only feasible link as of now between the remotest and poorest communities and existing road networks and highly-urbanized centers, thereby opening them up to economic progress.
Pimentel said Malacañang should look beyond petty politics and instead order the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to resume with the PBP’s mandate of providing critical infrastructure development support by addressing the country’s ballooning bridge requirement as reflected in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Program.
Sources claim DPWH officials have gone soft on the implementation of the PBP, particularly in Mindanao, fearful of this Visayan politician who will not settle for anything less than having said contractor, identified as Balfour of England, awarded a big portion of the projects amounting to several billions.
This, despite Balfour’s less than attractive performance record with the government as borne out in recent findings of the Commission on Audit.
The stark reality is that the Philippines has to contend with 22 to 27 typhoons or natural calamities annually which destroy or weaken existing bridges. Despite the gains achieved in the PBP since the time of former President Cory Aquino, there are still about 15, 000 bridges or 200, 000 lineal meters of spans that have to be built all over the country if a modicum of progress is to be achieved.
Aside from the approximately 1,300 bridges constructed that have contributed to the growth of communities in far-flung areas, the PBP has also boosted peace and order efforts with the Salam (or Peace) Bridge Program in the troubled ARMM region. Also, there were 593 spans, called the Bridges of Hope, built in Mindanao and Palawan.
One has to wonder why, in spite of the positives, this lawmaker still insists on inserting Balfour, to the detriment of existing contracts already awarded by the DPWH to such reputable outfits as Mabey & Johnson of the UK and Eiffel Matierre of France which have been proven to be more cost-effective, modern, efficient and long-lasting. An accredited bridge supplier of the British armed forces, M&J has already built over 1,200 bridges from Cagayan and Ilocos Norte to Tawi-Tawi with little or no complaints coming from the beneficiaries.