Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law (RA 10845) is govt’s biggest failure

Since 2016 until February 2023, only nine out of 159 large-scale anti-agricultural smuggling cases were filed in court. Seventy-six, or about 48 percent of the total cases, have so far been dismissed after prosecutors found no probable cause while only nine cases reached the Supreme Court, according to the official data of the Department of Justice (DOJ). And the saddest truth is that not a single agricultural smuggler has neither been arrested nor convicted in the past seven years.

Two major reasons were cited. Under RA 10845, the crime of large-scale agricultural smuggling is deemed economic sabotage if it is worth at least P1M for sugar corn, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots fish, vegetables and a minimum of P10M for rice “AS VALUED BY THE BUREAU OF CUSTOMS “. Clearly, this valuation of smuggling is “controversial” and leaves a lot of discretion to the compromised Customs officials. Why only BOC and not Department of Agriculture, NBI, or others? Which legislator put this provision on this Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law?

Second, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 10845 only state that “the Bureau shall, after due investigation, file appropriate criminal charges against those who committed any of the prohibited acts” under the law.

In a Senate hearing months ago, Philippine Judges Association (PJA) Secretary General Judge Elisa Sarmiento-Flores said this IRR provision was vague. “There are no particular time, period, or pieces of evidence mentioned, including the valuation which gives too much leeway to the BOC”. Assistant Solicitor General Bernard Hernandez pointed out that RA 10845 being a “very short law,” has details left out of the IRR “which made it difficult to prosecute.

There is also an apparent “laglag-kaso” modus among some BOC officials and DOJ prosecutors by refusing to prosecute large scale agricultural smugglers. Examples are cases where the BOC would forward incomplete documents for the preliminary investigation of the DOJ. Here, valuations of smuggled goods are arbitrarily lessened or ballooned, with the intention of avoiding the threshold amounts of “economic sabotage” in the law. And while under litigation, delaying tactics or refusal to cooperate among the BOC and DOJ personnel are happening.

This pushed Senate Minority leader Koko Pimentel to “add a specific crime to amend RA 10845 like, refusal to prosecute large-scale agricultural smuggling.” Asked who will be made liable under this offense, he said it would be the (BOC) legal departments, even prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DOJ), depending on the evidence.

A few days ago, the Bureau of Customs announced series of raids all over the country. Four rice bodegas worth P519M were seized in Bulacan. BOC-Port of Zamboanga seized P42M worth of rice sacks in Bgy. Jose Gusu, while raids in Pulang Lupa-Las Piñas and another in Bacoor Cavite yielded P42M of smuggled rice.
Now, it is very clear that nothing substantial happens after recent public announcements of these raids all over the country. Only for public consumption , and no one gets punished nor jailed. No wonder, Senator Cynthia Villar has called for the abolition of RA 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 amid the proliferation of manipulated high prices of rice, onions, garlic and sugar. Indeed, a monumental failure of Congress and Malacañang since 2016.

Philippines is 5th zero-dose globally with 1M unvaccinated infants

According ‬to ‬data ‬from UNICEF and the WHO, the Philippines has too many zero dose children in its population. We are the fifth worldwide and the second highest in the entire East Asia and Pacific Region, following Myanmar. A zero-dose child is an infant or child that has not received any vaccinations against common diseases.

Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, ‬the number of unvaccinated children is ‬probably higher ‬than what is stated, as reports focused only infants aged 1 – 12 months. Since almost half of the babies born during each of the pandemic years missed their routine vaccines, they should also be counted as part of the pool of children at risk.

Dr. Ong Lim explained to this author the risks of our more than one million zero-dose children. “Each child not vaccinated is at risk for highly communicable diseases and could be the source of transmission as well”. “Through the years, infectious diseases always lead the list in both illnesses and death of our infants and children, she said

Ong-Lim ‬ ‬says ‬zero-dose ‬ ‬children ‬ are at risk ‬with ‬ ‬pneumonia, ‬ ‬a ‬ vaccine-preventable disease, but still the leading cause of death for children aged 1 – 4 years in 2020. Pneumonia is a life-threatening disease that begins in the lungs. The disease causes complications such as bloodstream infections and respiratory failure, leading to untimely death. Although pneumonia is often associated with senior citizens, Ong-Lim says that babies ‬and ‬ ‬children ‬below ‬ ‬the ‬ ‬age ‬ ‬of ‬ ‬2 ‬ ‬years ‬ ‬old ‬ ‬are ‬ ‬also ‬ ‬at ‬ ‬high ‬ ‬risk. ‬ ‬ ‬

Several of the vaccines given in the national program can prevent pneumonia, particularly the pneumococcal vaccine. Effective protection against one of its main causes (Streptococcus pneumoniae) can be provided by the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), which has been part of the National Immunization Program since 2015.

With these in mind, LGUs must lead the way in what should be catch up efforts to reach these zero-dose children in their homes through the barangays. We need to identify and understand these zero dose children who account for over 70 percent of under immunized children worldwide. By reaching them, effective intervention measures can be put in place against pneumonia and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

At this point, I would advise all parents all over the country are to take advantage of free pneumococcal vaccines for their zero-dose or under immunized children which are all available in health centers nationwide.