And now, smuggled strawberries

Last Dec. 24, the peak market buying day of the Christmas holiday rush, the League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post (LALTVTP) noted with dismay the open sale of boxes of smuggled carrots from China in the Divisoria markets.

“Kawawa na naman si Benguet Farmer,” lamented the group, sharing how its members have been unable to sell their usual volume of highland vegetables due to unfair competition.

The sale of contraband vegetables occurred even after the Senate had already launched on Dec. 14 an investigation into the rampant smuggling of agricultural products, which lawmakers say has stolen local farmers’ markets and further shrunk their profits. Farmers’ income have seen a drastic reduction due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the legal importation of agricultural produce.

But on top of such legal importation, smuggling has continued seemingly unimpeded. Sen. Panfilo Lacson aired the suspicion that instead of an “interagency cooperation” between the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Agriculture to stamp out this scourge, an “interagency conspiracy” must be in place that keeps the operation going.

According to Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, the volume of smuggled and misdeclared fruits and vegetables flooding the country’s major wet markets has already reached “alarming” proportions. This was seconded by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who estimated that some P1 billion worth of contraband agricultural products such as carrots, garlic, and ginger had been seized from May to Nov. 18, 2021, alone.

That number will have to be revised, as just two weeks ago at least 17 shipping containers that contained P9.3 million worth of fresh carrots and broccoli—but declared as frozen jams—were seized at the Subic Bay Freeport.

Now it’s imported strawberries from South Korea—supposed to be just for the local Korean community—ending up in the wet markets of Cebu starting Nov. 29, prompting the LALTVTP to call for the recall of the produce and the cancellation of importation permits. LALTVTP spokesperson Agot Balanoy said that the group used to supply Cebu with strawberries from La Trinidad, known as the Philippines’ strawberry capital. But orders have slowed to a trickle following the arrival of the imported fruits.

Salceda stressed that strawberries from Korea are not included in the list of goods allowed to enter the country under the Korea-Philippine Trade agreement. “So, something’s up,” he said.

For Sotto, that “something” is entrenched corruption in the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which he called the “biggest disease” hurting Filipinos. “Port congestion, red tape, [bribery] and under-the-table arrangements are just some issues in the Bureau of Customs that are burdening businesses and [weakening] the business climate in our country. Woe on our farmers, woe on Filipino consumers!”

Per Sotto, hardly any charges of violations of Republic Act No. 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, have been filed. The law classifies as economic sabotage the large-scale smuggling of agricultural products amounting to less than P1 million, or a minimum of P10 million in the case of rice. The resulting unabated entry of smuggled fruits and vegetables into the local markets has thus further battered farmers, who have yet to recover from losses inflicted by successive typhoons and the lingering pandemic. The health crisis, for instance, saw the closure or suspension of operations of hotels and restaurants they had regularly supplied with fresh produce.

About 58,000 households in Benguet, Ifugao, and Mountain Province, which together produce about 80 percent of the country’s highland vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, broccoli and carrots, depend on farming.

Balanoy scored the government’s failure to identify the smugglers as well as their “protectors.” “Why can we not identify the smugglers themselves? The protectors? They are so bold,” she said. Her group has called on the Bureau of Plant Industry and other concerned agencies to explain why Korean strawberries were allowed entry despite the adequate supply of strawberry harvests from local sources.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros identified four companies that she said stood out for repeated transactions involving contraband produce: “Kapansin-pansin ang Zhenpin, Thousand Sunny Enterprise, Dua Te Mira, at Gingarnion Agri Trading. These companies were involved in at least P400 million worth of smuggled vegetables. Ibig sabihin, halos kalahati ng P800 million reported apprehensions ng BOC ay involved itong apat na ito,” she noted.

The question then, voiced by the senator but the suspicious query as well of the affected sectors and the larger public: “Bakit nakakaulit sila? From June, umulit noong July, at umulit ulit noong October. Bakit namimihasa sila? May special consideration ba sa mga ito?”