Warehouse owners required to register facilities with DA 

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is now requiring operators of warehouses and storage facilities to register online to curb the smuggling of farm and fishery products.

The DA has issued Memorandum Circular No. 3 outlining the guidelines for the Registry System for Agri Storage, an online registration system for facilities that store agricultural and fishery products.

The registration is in step with the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which seeks to prevent the smuggling of agricultural and fishery products that destabilize food supply and market prices.

READ: P38-M worth of alleged smuggled rice seized in Talisay warehouse raid

The DA said the circular aims to ensure monitoring and traceability of facilities handling local or imported farm products. Out of the registration data, it hopes to detect possible hoarding, profiteering and cartel-like activities.

It also clarified that it would validate and issue registration for these facilities, while trade regulatory agencies (TRAs) would handle accreditation, licensing and other regulatory functions.

Coverage of policy

The policy covers cold and dry storage warehouses, silos, agricultural storage tanks, stationary refrigerated container vans and similar agricultural and fisheries storage facilities.

All persons handling these facilities, whether owned, leased or maintained through third persons, shall register those with the concerned TRAs of the DA and prepare a monthly report on the operations, which includes an inventory of any agricultural product in the facilities at any given time. /cb