Senator Cynthia Villar. SCREENGRAB from INQUIRER.net FILE VIDEO
Senator Cynthia Villar hailed on Friday the signing into law of a bill imposing stiffer penalties against the smuggling of agricultural products, saying this would give a “better shot at curbing the perennial problem of smuggling in the agriculture sector.”
Villar, principal sponsor of the bill, said the law boosted the campaign against smuggling, which continues to threaten the livelihood of farmers as well as the food security in the country.
Republic Act (RA) No. 10845 or “The act declaring large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage” was signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III last May 23.
“With this measure now enacted, we have a better shot at curbing the perennial problem of smuggling in the agriculture sector. Harsher penalties are now imposed to serve as deterrent to smuggling activities,” Villar, also chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said in a statement.
READ: House: Smuggling = economic sabotage
The senator also expressed optimism that the process of prosecution would largely improve with smuggling now being a non-bailable charge.
Under the law, she said, the amount of smuggled agricultural product subject to economic sabotage is equal or more than P10 million for rice, and equal or more than P1 million for other agricultural products such as sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables.
Villar said violators will face a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of twice the fair value of the smuggled agricultural product and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other charges avoided.
“Economic saboteurs deserve to be severely punished under this new law,” she said.
“They threaten the livelihood of small and subsistence farmers because the presence of smuggled products unjustly lowers market price, making it almost impossible for locally-produced goods to compete,” the senator added.
READ: Sinag cheers passage of antismuggling law
Aside from this measure, Villar also authored seven other bills on agriculture recently signed into law by the President; namely, RA 10848 (Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund extension act), RA 10817 (Halal Act), RA 10816 (Farm Tourism Act), RA 10825 (Marine hatchery in Surigao City and Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte), RA 10826 (Marine nursery in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat), RA 10813 (Multi-species freshwater hatchery in Jabonga, Agusan del Norte), and RA 10787 (Marine hatchery in Lingig, Surigao del Sur). CDG/rga