Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. (Photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Cases will soon be filed against agricultural smugglers and hoarders, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in an interview on Tuesday.
Just a day before, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in his second State of the Nation Address that the days of smugglers and hoarders were numbered.
“I think it will be very soon that cases will be filed against the real responsible for smuggling and food hoarding,” Bersamin said.
But he did not provide a timeline, saying that it would depend on the evidence.
According to Bersamin, the government has been validating the intelligence reports on the identity of the smugglers and hoarders. Some of them, he added, were already known in the previous administration of Rodrigo Duterte.
“Their names have already been mentioned in prior administrations as engaged in smuggling of food products, and they are very, very hazardous to our economy and our health,” Bersamin said.
Marcos, who is the concurrent chief of the Department of Agriculture, previously ordered the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation to go after these smugglers.
“That is a personal undertaking of the president. He really means to deal with these people, [get] the justice that they deserve. His statement yesterday to me was a very correct statement of his sentiment against smuggling and economic sabotage,” Bersamin said.