Militants slam lifting of rice import quotas (tags)
- Militant groups on Tuesday attacked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s decision to lift rice import quota as a way to ease the rice shortage the country is reportedly experiencing. The farmers group Kilusang Mayo Uno said that removing the quota would benefit only the rice cartel, which KMP claims is behind the rice supply shortage and is allegedly manipulating prices. KMP chair Rafael Mariano explained that even with the quota of 300,000 metric tons of rice, the private sector only imported less than 10 percent of that volume over the past two years because of high world prices and local tariffs on imports.