PBBM: Sign the “Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act” asap

Agricultural smugglers are very active again.

Over 300 tons of smuggled vegetables were seized by the Department of Agriculture in cold storage facilities in Navotas city. The first raid confiscated 132 tons of white onions estimated at P21.2M while the second netted almost 90 tons of smuggled carrots worth P13.4M.  The operation also seized 360 kilos of tomatoes, 10 kilos of enoki mushrooms and 92.25 tons of imported white onions in a container van.

In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said the order of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is clear: “Go after these smugglers without let up,”. He also ordered the 

Bureau of Plant Industry to suspend import permits of these vegetables.

Earlier in June, Laurel revealed four agricultural companies , two of which are in fishery products, one in sugar and one in rice , will be blacklisted by his department for involvement in smuggling activities. Up to this point, he has not divulged the names of these companies.

Laurel also admitted some companies attempted to bribe him just so he would allow their smuggled goods to enter the country. “ They bribed me initially at P200,000 per container, then they increased it to P1 million per container, but we burned all of them” . (Sinuhulan ako ng initially P200,000 per container, umakyat ng P1 million per container, sinunog namin lahat”) “You will see in the next few months, marami akong iba-blacklist na kumpanya, mga smugglers, kahit kaibigan ko iba-blacklist ko,” Laurel said. (I will blacklist several companies , and smugglers, and even if they are my friends, I will do so).

I remember in January last  year, the House of Representatives identified alleged big time agricultural smugglers. DA secretary Laurel was appointed only came in  November 3 last year and surely,  he was unaware of these revelations. The ten names tagged by Sultan Kudarat 2^nd district Rep. Horacio Suansing in a congressional hearing , are allegedly involved in large-scale agricultural smuggling in different points of entry in the country. They are Michael Ma, Lujene Ang, Andrew Chang, Beverly Peres, a certain “Aaron”, Manuel Tan, Leah Cruz, Jun Diamante, Lucio Lim, and Gerry Teves.  Suansing also wants to investigate the alleged “consignees” of these people. 

These  10 personalities were slated to appear in a subsequent Jan. 30 hearing, but it was canceled at the last minute. Investigation of the smugglers were then transferred from the Committee on Ways and means to the House committee on Agriculture and Food.

Four months later, Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo announced that the House Committee on Agriculture and Food will recommend the filing of charges against those linked to the agricultural smuggling and price fixing operations.  She pointed to a group of companies involved in the whole onion supply chain and price manipulation that hit up to P700 per kilo in markets last year.

“The documents are saying that  “The Philippine Vegetable Importers, Exporters and Vendors Association (PhilVIEVA Corp.) is  an umbrella entity that covers the entire onion industry from farming (Leah Cruz), trading, (Yom Trading, La Reina), cold storage (Tian Long), and trucking (Golden Shine).” This  group allegedly targets local farmers and manipulates prices using “cold storage facilities” as bargaining leverage. This pressures local farmers to sell at P12/kilo close to the landed cost of  imported onions at P14/kilo. Eventually, this group controls both  local and imported supply, Quimbo said.

Between May last year  and the assumption of Laurel in the DA, all we saw were publicity stunts of raids and similar events, mainly because the present law (RA 10845) remains weak. Senator Cynthia A. Villar called this anti-smuggling law a “failure”. Bureau of Customs however announced in September 2023, that NCR branch 24  found Divina Bisco Aguilar, proprietor of Real Mart guilty of misdeclaration of carrots but under the Customs Modernization and Tariff act.(not RA 10845)   She was sentenced to a prison term of three years to four years.

Rosendo O. So, chairman of the agricultural sector group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), said law enforcement agencies themselves could be accomplices of smugglers.

However,  there is a huge positive development and this happened only last Tuesday , when the Senate ratified the  Committee Report on the proposed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage act. 

This bill makes agricultural smuggling in the amount exceeding P3M  a “non-bailable offense” punishable by life imprisonment. If government officers are involved, they face imprisonment of not more than 12 years with perpetual disqualification to hold public office

House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Mark Enverga said the upcoming law will enhance agricultural productivity and shield farmers and fishers from the detrimental activities of smugglers, hoarders, and profiteers.  “A direct response to Marcos’ call to action during his 2023 SONA where he highlighted the detrimental impact of smugglers and hoarders on agricultural prices and vowed to eliminate such practices”, he said.

The proposed bill is now awaiting  the signature of the President, who earlier declared this as a priority in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) .

If this signed into law and implemented, then we can see jail time for these  ultra-rich agricultural smugglers , that is if they continue their old ways. Since time immemorial, they have manipulated the lives of our local farmers and dictated market and grocery prices of us, consumers. We have suffered long enough from these people who use their influence over law enforcement,  and then corrupted numerous government functionaries at the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Customs to look the other way.

Indeed, with this upcoming law, their days are already numbered.