SEN. Imee Marcos sought an investigation on the alleged "suspicious" importation of over 1.723 million sacks of rice by the Planters Products Inc. (PPI), a sequestered corporation under the Department of Agriculture (DA). The senator recently filed Resolution 392 seeking the inquiry to determine if PPI is being used as a “backdoor” for government rice importation, which is prohibited under the Rice Tariffication Law.
“The mandate of the DA is to support local production, not to boost importation of rice. Is PPI still for the people or for the wallets of some?,” Marcos asked.
She said PPI’s estimated income in 2024 was only around P90 million. "How was it able to import nearly P2 billion worth of rice? It is clear that PPI is being used and abused to profit from importation,” she said in a statement.
PPI reportedly imported over 1.723 million sacks of rice in three separate batches: 255,000 sacks from India in April 2025 and 200,000 sacks in July 2025.
The firm also imported over 1.268 million sacks from Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar in January 2026. The Federation of Free Farmers has reported that an additional 1.545 million sacks of rice are "currently en route from India." “Due to the greed of these officials, local palay prices have crashed, starving our 2.4 million farmers. The farmgate price of palay has dropped to just P16 to P17 per kilo,” Marcos said.