“Economic Sabotage” vs 3 rice importers filed; Carrot smuggler convicted

Bureau of Customs acting Director-Legal Service Atty. William Belayo filed four smuggling charges before the Department of Justice against rice importers connected to the August 24 raid at the Intercity Industrial Complex in Balagtas Bulacan last week.

Charges of “economic sabotage” were against three importers while another was on smuggling, in violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) under Agricultural Product Smuggling. The identified warehouses were Great Harvest Rice Mill Warehouse, San Pedro Warehouse, and FS Rice Mill Warehouse in Barangay San Juan found storing “smuggled” rice from Vietnam , Cambodia and Thailand in 202,000 sacks worth P505 million. Warrants of seizure and detention of the discovered rice were issued and BOC officials are awaiting the forfeiture proceedings..

Another case are reportedly being readied versus importers behind the 42,180 sacks of smuggled rice worth P42 million in Zamboanga. President Bongbong Marcos ordered its confiscation and later distributed the said rice to poor families around the country.

Of course, let us not be too optimistic on these bold moves by Customs and their counterparts at DOJ, because of their very bad track record at prosecuting smugglers.

Although last week, they got their first conviction of “Agricultural smuggling“ after Metropolitan Trial Court NCR Br. 24 sentenced to a prison term of three (3) years and one (1) day to four (4) years, one Divina Bisco Aguilar, proprietor of Real Mart, who mis-declared a shipment of “carrots” as frozen pastry buns from Singapore in 2020.

In our earlier column , only nine out of 159 large-scale anti-agricultural smuggling cases were filed in court since 2016. 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. But today perhaps is very different, because for the first time, the charge sheet would read “economic sabotage”, a non-bailable offense, to put behind bars agricultural cartel members while their cases are pending in court.

Of course, we fervently hope that all assigned DOJ prosecutors and honorable judges handling economic sabotage or smuggling cases will be on the side of truth. Because for the past decades , these economic saboteurs/cartels on rice, onions, garlic, pepper and other food are very rich and influential people, who flouted and paid their way to avoid the law. For our part, we will continue to be vigilant on their criminal activities under the present dispensation.

DENR “political will” needed on Manila Bay reclamation projects

When PBBM suspended all 21 Manila Bay reclamation projects and ordered DENR to review, he told media that there were lots of problems and many projects are not being managed or operated properly. That will be two months already this coming Saturday. And today, barges and ships utilized in reclamation are still anchored and immobile in their respective areas in the bay.

In a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Senator Cynthia Villar asked Assistant general manager Atty. Joseph Literal of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) on this. Literal explained, contractors can’t simply pack up and leave because they have contractual commitments to their joint venture partners. “They’re legally bound to manage and maintain these reclaimed lands at their costs”.

At present, significant portions of Manila Bay have already been reclaimed, with some areas nearing 80% completion. What’s the government plan for these islands? Are we going to abandon them and let the sea reclaim? Absolutely not. As it is, they are already valuable real estate and therefore government, its real owner, must have a clear-cut policy on reclamation as soon as possible.

DENR secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said her agency and the Philippine Reclamation Authority are still conducting a comprehensive review of all firms involved. “Projects are already in possession of Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECC) and Area Clearances (AC), and review was well underway and nearing completion”, Yulo said.

During the hearing, DENR Secretary Maria Yulo-Loyzaga told Senator Villar on the laborious process these firms endured to secure environmental compliance certificates. Literal, on the other hand, clarified that no reclamation project received a hasty green light. Most, if not all, waited for years before gaining approval from the PRA.

In a separate budget hearing at the House of Representatives, DENR budget sponsor Palawan Rep. Jose Alvarez said, “it is not healthy for our investment environment that approved projects were temporarily halted with no definite date of resumption”. “The result of DENR’s impact assessment is forthcoming because investors are also waiting for it”, he said. Reports say that the DENR must submit its environmental compliance report to the president last August.

When Senator Jinggoy Estrada queried if Metro Manila faced flooding due to these reclamation works, Atty. Literal cited multiple flood studies and models that debunked the possibility. Unlike previous reclamations, these projects constitute island reclamations, with reclaimed lands positioned a mere thirty meters from the shoreline. Waters from the bay will not penetrate inland; these reclamations serve as formidable “artificial barriers” against storm surges, akin to how the Mall of Asia complex has shielded Pasay City residents from flash floods since 2006.

Our country has seen successful reclamation projects in the past within Manila Bay, namely Manila Free port Zone or Imelda’s Bay City where the CCP, PICC, Aseana City, SM Mall of Asia, Entertainment city are all standing. Another reclamation is the Port of Manila that includes North and South Harbor, MICT, and Baseco while the third is Manila Harbor Center, a 79-hectare facility of industrial and shipping zones just north of North Harbor.

Now, which of these 21 new reclamation projects in Manila Bay will be allowed to continue? Which companies are environmentally compliant? Which companies do not overlap their respective jurisdictions? What about the Chinese contractor protested by the US Embassy? Which projects should be cancelled and perhaps transferred to the most qualified?

We need immediate answers to these important questions and only DENR’s political will can show us the right way. We cannot further delay because time, money, investor confidence plus environmental repercussions are forever pressing.

So, if these firms dutifully adhered to our environmental laws and regulations, what’s holding DENR Secretary Yulo-Loyzaga back from complying with the law itself? Is she apprehensive about backlash from environmentalists and advocacy groups? At the end of the day, she must make that decision. As they say, government officials are bound to uphold the law, no matter the circumstances.