House committee summons 10 persons allegedly involved in ''large-scale agricultural smuggling'' in Philippine ports
A House of Representatives committee on Monday issued a subpoena against 10 individuals allegedly involved in "large-scale agricultural smuggling" in Philippine ports.
Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio Suansing Jr. named 10 brokers, importers and facilitators as Michael Ma, Lujene Ang, Andrew Chang, Beverly Peres, a certain Aaron, operating Manila International Container Port (MICP), Manuel Tan, Leah Cruz, Jun Diamante, Lucio Lim, and Gerry Tevez during the Ways and Means Committee hearing on agricultural smuggling.
In a television interview, Suansing said he has been hearing the names of these individuals in the past six months.
"I have been hearing these names for so long, maybe to be specific, for the last six months... so it's high time many people are affected by this smuggling of agricultural products so I deem it necessary to file this resolution to fix this," he said, referring to House Resolution No. 311 which "pursues to conduct a congressional inquiry and aid of legislation on the smuggling of basic agricultural commodities and tobacco products into the Philippines."
"There is around 15 billion pesos worth of misdeclaration and correspondingly that is lost to the public treasury. Yes, that is economic sabotage," he added.
Suansing also warned the 10 individuals they will be held in contempt if they failed to report to the committee.
"If you have a subpoena you have to report here, if not you will be held in contempt or you will be detained. What I am saying is you need to defend yourself here in Congress if you are innocent but if you're guilty you better hide because we have evidence," he said.
Suansing also requested the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Agriculture to provide records of consignees which includes the "Victory JM Enterprises, Taculog International Consumer Goods Trading, Azterzenmed Aggregates, Veneta Consumer Goods Trading, Lalavy Aggregates Trading, Frankie Trading Enterprises, Primex Export - Import Producer, SB Express Logistics Business Solution, Silver Pop Dry Goods Trading, Thousand Sunny Enterprises, Viogelas Viol Aggregates Trading, Junezone Dry Goods Trading, and Burias Jang Consumer Goods Trading."
He also requested for the "records and documents from the Bureau of Customs and SBMA on the importer of cigarettes and tobacco, PhilSHON Corporations whose cigarettes and products are allegedly flooding Philippine local markets despite being declared for transshipment for Malaysia."
"In view of this request I will divulge in due time pertinent information on these individuals and personalities. Which would make relevant this request to the committee and to the concerned government agencies. We hope for fruitful and cooperative discussion," he added.
As he stressed the extent of smuggling in the country, Suansing said "International news outlet South China Morning Post, highlighted that in 2021, there is 30.5 billion US dollar difference in the total value of imports from China, reported by the Philippines and in the total value of Chinese imports into the Philippines reported by the United Nations International Trade Statistics database".
"In 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that value of imports from China totaled 26.8 billion dollars while the United Nations International Trade Statistics database reported that in 2021, the total value of goods that entered the Philippines from China, totaled 57.3 billion(dollars). The same reports showed that in 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the total value of agricultural imports that entered the Philippines from all countries is 14 million dollars only," he said.
"However, the United Nations Trade statistics shows that Chinese agricultural and fish exports to the Philippines alone without fruits and nuts was already worth 138 million dollars. That is a 124 million US dollars gap in reported data from the Philippines and from the United Nations International Trade Statistics database," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
