Smuggling of vegetables in the Philippines will continue if production costs in the country remains high, an official from the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Sunday.

"The production cost in other countries is more cheaper than ours. That is what we are trying to improve in the local production through budget to bring down our production cost to make it competitive," Assistant Secretary Noel Reyes, DA spokesman, said in a radio interview.

"While we are not competitive, smuggling of products from other countries to the Philippines will remain attractive for the traders," he added.

Reyes said the DA and the Bureau of Custom (BOC) are continuously addressing the problem of smuggling.

"We are addressing it in partnership with the BOC. They are the frontliner for this. Ee provide a permit but it slipped past us because of misdeclaration," he said.

Reyes said among smuggled products that were able to enter the country because of misdeclaration include palm oil, carrots and onions.

"Palm oil is one, we are addressing it now. Palm oil is misdeclared because palm oil is zero tariff for animal feeds which is used to mix with their food for protein but (these) are being sold for cooking oil," he said.

"We do not give a permit for carrots but it slipped past us. It means it is misdeclared. Is there importation permit for carrots? None, it means it was hidden inside the cargoes," he added.

However, Reyes reiterated that Agriculture Secretary William Dar has ordered an internal investigation against personnel who were possibly involved in smuggling.

"The position of Secretary Dar is clear. We have also ordered the investigation of officials or staff, the secretary will not tolerate and then smuggling is a no no no," he said.

"It is clear and we already have an internal investigation in the DA among its officials and staff to substantiate against those people who received complaints," he added.

Reyes also vowed to announce the result of the internal investigation in a few weeks or once it was completed. Robina Asido/DMS