MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance will be checking the income tax returns of traders who participated in what President Benigno Aquino III dubbed in his State of the Nation Address as excessive importation of rice in recent years.

The move forms part of the government's campaign to plug tax leaks by cracking down on tax evaders and smugglers.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said he already asked National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Angelito Banayo to provide him with the list of traders involved in importations.

"This is the mandate of President Aquino. We have to check their income tax returns, given the volume of these imports," Purisima said, noting that documents will be submitted immediately to the Bureau of Internal Revenue for review.

A lifestyle check on government officials who had a hand in the deals will also be conducted, Purisima added.

In his first SONA, the President alleged that rice imports in recent years were much more than what the country actually needed.

He also blamed excessive importation of the staple for the NFA's debts, which he said ballooned to P171 billion in 2009 from only P28 billion in 2003.

Banayo earlier said that inventory of NFA warehouses nationwide yielded rice stocks that could feed the country up to the end of the year.

He said in some warehouses, rice stocks have only been rotting.

The rice agency is now looking at selling old stocks at a bargain to help trim its debts and reduce its reliance on government subsidies.