BY REGINA BENGCO

SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral yesterday said her department is verifying the number of poor families in Metro Manila that are entitled to access cards.

In an ambush interview in Cagayan de Oro City, she said that based on a list submitted by the mayors of the 16 cities and one town in Metro Manila, there are 700,000 poor families in the metropolis.

The figure, she said, is more than that figure of the National Statistics Office whose survey showed 187,000 families living below the poverty line, which is defined as having a monthly income of not more than P5,000.

She said the verification would be finished in two weeks, at which time the "family access cards" would be made available.

She said an access card would entitle a family to buy daily two kilos of rice being sold by the National Food Authority, which she said is the average consumption of a family of five.

She gave the assurance the P18.25 NFA rice is still available in public markets and Tindahan Natin and Bigasan sa Parokya outlets.

She said it is not yet certain how long the subsidy would last because President Arroyo would still have to consider rice prices and the incidence of poverty. She also it is not yet certain whether the system of giving out access cards would be expanded to other areas.

Arroyo said government will lift the ban on food trucks to speed up the distribution of food in Metro Manila.

This means the truck ban imposed by local government units in Metro Manila will no longer cover trucks carrying foodstuffs.

Arroyo made the announcement in a speech at the conclusion of the launching of the Central Philippines Nautical Highway in Cagayan de Oro City.

Arroyo, at the justice department, cracked the whip on the Task Force on Rice Hoarding after a briefing on the status of the cases filed by the NBI against rice hoarders.

Based on the report of TF head Ricardo Diaz of the NBI, 128 warehouses were inspected and 22 rice traders and millers charged. Of the 22, three have been arrested. Three cases are undergoing preliminary investigation at the DOJ.

The investigators explained that during preliminary investigation, the respondent traders requested additional time to submit their counter-affidavit. They were given a non-extendible period of 10 days or until May 8.

The task force committed to issue a joint resolution on three complaints after the submission of counter-evidence.

'SHE'S NO LAWYER'

A visibly riled Arroyo showed her dissatisfaction with the pace with which the filing of the cases were taking. She asked why the DOJ should grant a 10-day extension for the respondents and not directly file the cases in court.

"That is your problem. Are you obliged to give that 10-day extension? As head of the task force, you have to exercise leadership. As head of the task force, you are the ones answerable to me," she told Diaz.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who was sitting beside Arroyo, and other lawyers in the room, did not bother to explain to her that under the rules of procedure, respondents in a suit have at least 10 days to file counter-affidavits and submit evidence in support of their defense.

Asked in the ensuing press briefing if he found the President's insistence to immediately file the case in court reasonable, Gonzalez simply said, "she is not a lawyer."

"The task force is bound by certain requirements in court and should accord due process to every accused," he said.