Cartels have long lorded over the grains industry as they exploit the heavy reliance of Filipinos on rice and the ever-dwindling farm output due to the failure of the industry to modernize.
Just like in any other critical sector, the market opportunists will use the flimsiest excuse to put in place a structured profiteering scheme.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. imposed a price cap on rice as he identified "cartels" and hoarders behind the surging charges.
Executive Order 39 fixed the maximum retail price of regular milled rice, consumed by many Filipinos, at P41 per kilo and P45 for the higher-quality well-milled rice.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said the dismantling of these groups that dominate the rice business was on the table during the recent Cabinet meetings.
As head of the Department of Agriculture, Marcos is well-informed about the syndicates, which have strong backers even within the people surrounding him.
Restoring a level field in the rice market would, thus, be a tough operation but it will be a legacy that Filipinos will not forget.
Disposing of unscrupulous traders is easier said than done, however.
The previous case of Davidson Bangayan, which is the pseudonym of suspected rice smuggling lord David Tan gives the backdrop to the powerful network that the rice syndicates command.
Bangayan was placed in the National Bureau of Investigation custody sometime in 2014 when Enrile was the Senate minority leader.
Enrile obtained a libel case, Bangayan filed against a prominent businessman in which he specifically stated that he was also David Tan.
Before Bangayan's appearance in the Senate, he met with then-Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to dispute that he and Tan are the same person.
After his arrest, primarily due to the Senate probe, strange things started to happen.
On his arrest warrant stated "Davidson Bangayan who is not David Tan", which is the phrase used that led to his release.
Also, despite the inquiries in the Senate about his being the kingpin of rice smuggling in the country, the Department of Justice filed electricity pilferage charges against him.
De Lima's excuse then was that her agency was still building up a case against Bangayan regarding rice smuggling.
The irony, however, was that De Lima was the last to know what several businessmen and trade groups have long volunteered as information to pin down David Tan, who hides behind the name of Bangayan.
The libel case filed by Bangayan against Jesus Arranza, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries, or FPI, in 2005 should have ended the charade since Tan admitted in the complaint that he was also Bangayan.
It even took the pointed inquiry of Enrile against Bangayan at the Senate apparently to convince the NBI to re-arrest him after he was released through the help of De Lima.
With intelligence units of the NBI, the Philippine National Police, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, at her disposal, De Lima had a hard time establishing the identity of David Tan.
The elderly Enrile and the other senators, in contrast, were able to amass information to match Bangayan and Tan, pieces of evidence that De Lima did not make use of.
The Senate episode on the elusive trader portrays the complex challenges that face Marcos in his goal of removing the mob that manipulates rice prices.
Imposing a cap on rice charges sends a message that prices will be the priority of the government and that it will use all means to keep the staple grain within the reach of the majority of the population.