50,000 MT rice smuggled to PH weekly, says Customs exec

File photo by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—As much as 50,000 metric tons of rice  a week  were  allegedly  smuggled into the  Philippines  last  year, an official of the  Bureau  of Customs  (BoC) told  a Senate hearing  on  Tuesday.

“At its height,  2,000 containers a week,”   Agaton  Uvero,  Customs deputy commissioner  for assessment and  operations  coordinating group, said during  the hearing of the Senate committee on ways and mean.

Uvero was  responding  to  Senate Minority Leader  Juan Ponce-Enrile’s  query as to how many tons of rice   were smuggled  annually into the country.

Each  container, he said, contains 25 metric tons of rice.

Uvero  reiterated that the 50,000 tons per week  was “at it heights” only and  the average  was about 4,000 containers  a month.

He said  the last smuggling of rice reported was  in October, 2013.

Before this,  Enrile  questioned  the  BoC’s  failure to  curb the rice smuggling   in the  country .

“How come in the case of rice, you can’t t stop smuggling?” he  asked.

To address the problem of rice smuggling, Enrile said there should be coordination between  the BoC and  Malacañang, saying that the  bureau  could not do it alone.

“This is a government effort….” he said, “You can’t stop smuggling without the participation  of Malacañang. And I’m talking from experience. I succeeded somehow during my time not because of myself  but because I have the full backing of  the Palace.”

But Uvero expressed  confidence  that  the BoC  has  the full  backing of  President  Benigno Aquino III in its fight against smuggling, Enrile conceded.

“What’ I’m saying  is the entire government must exert effort, not just one agency…” the  opposition leader added.

Despite corruption allegations hounding  the  BoC,  Senator  Juan  Edgardo Angara said there was no need yet to  overhaul the  bureau.

“Palagay ko kelangan ng konting shake up (I think a little shake up is needed),” said Angara, chairman of the committee.

“Sometimes when a collector has been in one port for too long, that collector will become too cosy or too comfortable with the importers,” the senator said. “I think it’s not only with Customs but also in other agencies of government that a reshuffle is needed.”

RELATED STORIES

Rice imports overprice reached P825 million — NBI, BOC

Re-examine rice importation policies, gov’t urged

There’s a right time to file a case vs rice smugglers—De Lima