Top smuggled agricultural products are onions, sugar: Villar
Sugar and onions, whose prices climbed last year, are the top smuggled agricultural products since last year, Senator Cynthia Villar said Thursday, citing data from the Department of Agriculture.
“According to the report of the Department of Agriculture Inspectorate and Enforcement, a total of P2.1 billion smuggled agri-fishery commodities were seized and a total of 42 cases were filed for violating Republic Act No. 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 and the Republic Act No.10611 or the Food Safety Act of 2013, from Oct. 19, 2022 to April 5, 2023. This is just for six months,” Villar said in her opening statement during a Senate committee hearing on agricultural smuggling.
“The top agricultural commodities seized were sugar and onions,'' said Villar, who did not provide data for sugar.
But for onions, Villar said: ''Total production in 2022, 238.56 thousand metric tons, demand is 270.41 (thousand) metric tons, vs import of 29.7 thousand metric tons but with stored volume of onions of 53,202 metric tons. There an indicative surplus of 51.05 thousand metric tons 2022.''
Villar said funds from'' duties and taxes could have been used to fund agriculture programs for farmers to improve their productivity and income, public services, and infrastructure projects.”
Villar added that the country was importing more than its local demand but in the case of chicken, dairy and pork, it is ''excessive.''
Citing information from the Bureau of Animal Industry, she said the highest meat importation in 2022 was pork with 710,362 metric tons (MT)
This was followed by chicken with 411,069 MT and beef with 186,152 MT.
Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, said it was high time to amend the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act since people “could barely feel the impact of the law.”
“There is a case filed, but no one was prosecuted and imprisoned. If you file a case on economic sabotage, that’s non-bailable, right? But we have yet to hear of someone who has been imprisoned for it,” she said.
She also revealed the recommendations of the panel from a previous hearing on the soaring prices of onion indicated in a committee report including the creation of a specialized court for anti-agricultural smuggling cases, the establishment of the anti-agricultural smuggling task force under the office of the President, and the forming a team of prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Meanwhile, Senator Robin Padilla said he would file a bill seeking to impose the death penalty on Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials who are involved in smuggling.
He announced this after reprimanding two Customs officials for seemingly being too busy to listen to him.
Samahan ng Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) chairman Rosendo So had agreed that Customs officials may have been conspiring with smugglers.
“We think the Bureau of Customs is conspiring with them (smugglers) because these (smuggled agricultural products) won’t be released if no one allowed it,” So told the lawmakers.
He said that farmers lose around P30 billion from smuggling.
Of this amount, P10 billion is lost from rice, up to P7 billion is lost from pork and chicken, and up to P4 billion is lost from onion, added So.
For her part, Senator Risa Hontiveros said government officials who allow agricultural smuggling should be penalized.
“Given the gravity of agricultural smuggling and its far-reaching consequences, it seems to me that we also need to punish government officials who allow these acts,” Hontiveros said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
