Sen. Panfilo Lacon Senate PRIB photo / Voltaire F. Domingo
MANILA, Philippines — Senators blamed on Tuesday an “interagency conspiracy” allowing the influx of illegally imported agricultural products into the country to the detriment of local farmers.
The lawmakers, sitting as the Senate committee of the whole, grilled officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on why smuggled agricultural products continued to flood the local market despite the layers of supposed safety nets to protect farmers from the illegal trade.
“Despite having what one study called the ‘eight toll gates of agricultural smuggling,’ why are there still too many smuggled goods that slip into our ports? I suspect what is involved is not interagency cooperation but interagency conspiracy,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.
He later clarified, however, that the conspiracy he referred to did not involve “high-level conspiracy,” but the “personnel on the ground.”
Lacson raised the issue during the Senate committee of the whole investigation into the rampant smuggling of agricultural products and questioned how these cases have remained unabated even with the numerous layers of import regulations.
He noted that importers were required to register with the Department of Trade and Industry; secure a mayor’s permit; get an accreditation with the BOC and the Securities and Exchange Commission; be enlisted as an importer by the food safety regulatory authority of the Department of Agriculture—all of which should have made it difficult, if not impossible, to smuggle agricultural produce.
Customs mandate
“The laws are sufficient, interagency cooperation is sufficient, regulations are sufficient, and yet the complaints remain. Smuggling persists,” Lacson said.
Lacson rejected the admission of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, who was present in the hearing, that the agency had “no control over some factors” in the unabated smuggling of vegetables and agricultural products into the Philippines.
“You cannot justify that there are factors that you cannot control because that’s your mandate,” the senator said.
He blasted the irony that legitimate importers were made to put up with overregulation, while smugglers got away with no regulation.
Automation
He urged the BOC to fast track the full automation of its processes to minimize the exercise of discretion among its personnel and curb the problem of corruption, citing the huge discrepancy of data on China’s exports to the Philippines with that of the country’s importation record with China.
Sen. Richard Gordon also lamented the discrepancies in the value of agricultural imports received by the Philippines and the products actually exported by other countries.
He cited the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database stating that millions of dollars worth of onion, shallots and leek shipments from China since 2018 were not declared upon their entry into the Philippines.
Guerrero agreed with Lacson, saying the BOC was working to make its systems “faceless and contactless.”
‘Double whammy’
Sen. Francis Pangilinan also lamented that Filipino farmers were dealt with a “double whammy effect” of unabated smuggling of vegetables from China and the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.
Citing complaints relayed to his office, Pangilinan said vegetables from China such as carrots have flooded warehouses in Divisoria market in Manila and in Carbon market, Cebu, resulting in the sharp drop in prices to P25 a kilo from P70.
Pangilinan also castigated DA officials for their lack of preparedness to respond to the senator’s questions on the success rate of the cases they had filed against suspected smugglers, agreeing with Lacson’s theory of a prevailing “interagency conspiracy.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who delivered a privilege speech on the issue on Nov. 7, expressed concern over the complaints of farmers in Benguet province on the flooding of imported carrots and ginger in the country’s major public markets.
He said he hoped that the findings from the Senate hearings would translate into the strengthening of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros questioned how repeat offenders of agricultural smuggling have remained brazen in their attempts to sneak in contraband products into the country.
“Notable are Zhenpin, Thousand Sunny Enterprise, Dua Te Mira, and Gingarnion Agri Trading. These companies were involved in at least P400 million worth of smuggled vegetables, almost half of the P800 million reported apprehensions of the BOC,” she said.
Repeat offenders
Hontiveros called on the BOC to delist repeat offenders from the list of importers accredited under Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 20-01, which allowed the expedited release of refrigerated containers and dry vans during the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine in the country.
Sen. Joel Villanueva suggested that the BOC allot funds to equip its personnel with bodycams, which, he said, was “a drop in the bucket of the taxes and duties it collects.”
These gadgets could be complemented by dashboard cameras mounted on BOC vehicles and linked to an elaborate CCTV network that records and monitors every van movement in every port, the senator said.