DA wants budget for economic intelligence vs smuggling

Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — To combat agricultural product smuggling, the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday asked Congress for a budget for “economic intelligence.”

DA Secretary William Dar reported to senators during the hearing of the Senate subcommittee on finance the government’s latest accomplishments against smuggling of imported vegetables.

Dar said authorities raided three warehouses and confiscated smuggled vegetables mostly from China in the last three weeks alone.

“So tuloy-tuloy po itong operasyon na ito,” he said when Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan inquired about the issue during the hearing.

When Pangilinan suggested that smugglers be charged with economic sabotage, Dar agreed but noted that the agency has no funding for economic intelligence.

“Alam ninyo ang DA wala man lang budget na for economic intelligence. E kailangan natin intelligence fund din for surveillance ng mga smugglers,” he said.

(You know DA does not even have a budget for economic intelligence. We also need intelligence funds for surveillance of smugglers.)

Dar’s proposal immediately got Pangilinan’s support.

“…Dapat siguro talaga sa agricultural products merong intelligence budget,” the senator said.

(I think there should really be an intelligence budget for agricultural products.)

Dar then said, “Sana madagdagan po ninyong parte na yan (I hope you can add funding for that).”

Pangilinan vowed to look for funding but requested the DA to submit a report on its anti-smuggling drive to the Senate.

abc