Philippines' Arroyo leads crackdown on rice hoarding

Arroyo demanded that she witness the filing of criminalcharges at the Department of Justice against 33 people accusedof hoarding, diverting subsidised rice and other illegalpractices.

"I am just here to observe to make sure things go fast,"she told reporters.

The Justice Department has formed an anti-rice hoardingtask force to lead the prosecution of those caught hoarding thecommodity or diverting subsidised rice to commercial traders.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez told Reuters the criminalcases would be presented in court this week.

Arroyo's government said it would continue to import thegrain despite a surge in world prices to secure supplies aheadof traditional lean months from July to September.

Earlier this year, Arroyo personally contacted VietnamesePrime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to secure up to 1.2 milliontonnes of rice for this year.

She has ordered troops to supervise sales of subsidisedrice and her government has asked fast food restaurants toserve half-portions of rice to cut wastage.

The Philippines is the world's biggest importer and plansto buy at least 2.2 million tonnes this year. So far, it hasspent $1 billion (512 million pounds) buying 1.7 million tonnesof rice for 2008.

It has allowed private importers to buy up to 163,000tonnes of rice in a country-specific tender on May 9.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Alex Richardson)