00:00 One day after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered to stop the supply of rice,
00:08 thousands of bags of smuggled rice worth more than P400 million were discovered during an inspection by the Bureau of Customs in their warehouse in Bulacan.
00:22 Mella Lesmoras has more.
00:27 The Bureau of Customs temporarily closed the four rice warehouses in Balagtas, Bulacan.
00:33 In the latest inspection by the agency,
00:36 Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio led by the Camara's leader,
00:41 and House Speaker Martin Romualdez led by him,
00:44 thousands of bags of rice were found hidden in the warehouses and smuggled.
00:51 The discovered supply of rice is estimated to be worth P431 million.
00:57 Aside from this, there are also bags of rice found there.
01:01 All of these are suspected to be imported because based on the information we received,
01:07 these are imported and smuggled to the warehouses with local markings.
01:15 They earn more than when they are smuggled to the local warehouses.
01:22 The authorities gave 15 days for the owners of the rice to explain and present the relevant documents because if not...
01:31 We will confiscate this.
01:35 If this is forfeit in favor of the government,
01:38 the instructions of our Commissioner is to donate this to the DSWD or to the Department of Agriculture for distribution.
01:48 If this is smuggled and distributed to the local stores, I'm sure it will be a great help to our mothers.
01:54 Amid the affected rice mills,
01:57 We don't have hoarding. We release everything daily.
02:02 If it is necessary, we will harvest the rice. If not, we will harvest it because it is easy to harvest.
02:11 But they said that you are not thinking about it.
02:13 No, it is our own rice.
02:16 This is the first time that President Ferdinand R. Marquez Jr. has ordered the BOC to look into the smuggling of rice to rice warehouses in the country
02:28 to eliminate rice hoarding and rice smuggling, which are considered as the reasons for the rise in the price of rice.
02:36 According to Speaker Romualdez, the President has the power to use the rice price in the Philippines, so he will take care of it.
02:44 We are monitoring it. We are inspecting it one by one.
02:48 Who imports, who hoards and who smuggles.
02:53 It is an economic sabotage. It is not available. It is unavailable.
02:58 So be careful. We are monitoring it.
03:01 The Filipino people's livelihood is divided into eating rice.
03:06 So when the authorities confirm, they will continue to monitor the proper supply of rice.
03:13 From here in Balagtas, Bulacan, Mela Las Moras for the country.
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