Monopoly, not smuggling, is rice trader’s charges

Suspected rice smuggler David Bangayan, also known as David Tan, will not be charged with smuggling, but with monopoly of supply, it was learned Tuesday. “He could only be charged with monopoly in restraint of trade for using farmers’ cooperatives as dummies to secure importation permits,” sources from the National Bureau of Investigation told the Inquirer. Bangayan, who insisted he was not David Tan, was positively identified by leaders of farmers’ cooperatives, who served as his dummies and who later turned witnesses for the government during the investigation, as “one and the same person.” The sources also said that cases would be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman this week.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/626750/monopoly-not-smuggling-is-rice-traders-charges