The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Sunday all cold storage facilities should be registered to address the problem of smuggled agricultural products.
DA spokesman Rex Estoperez told radio dzBB that the practice of traders hoarding agricultural products during the harvest season and storing them in cold storage facilities for release only when prices go up must end.
“I think it’s high time. We also have imperfections in our systems, but it’s high time that all cold storage should be registered,” Estoperez said in Filipino, citing the current “shortage” of onions as an example.
The traders move them out of their warehouses when they are inspected, storing the produce in unhygienic cold storage facilities, where they often go bad, the DA official said.
Estoperez said a recent shipment of confiscated onions was found to be not fit for human consumption and could not be sold at government-run Kadiwa stalls for a cheaper price.
On Sunday, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it has confiscated more than P1 billion worth of smuggled agricultural products since the Marcos administration started.
BOC spokesperson Arnaldo dela Torre Jr. said the agency is continuously enforcing its campaign against agricultural smuggling, in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Dela Torre said the BOC’s latest interception of smuggled agricultural products was in the Port of Subic wherein frozen carrots and red and white onions from China were found inside container shipments declared as something else.
He said when the BOC conducted an inspection, it found that half of the contents of the container contained the products that were declared.
“Unless we inspect 100 percent of the shipment, you would not find that there were agricultural products inserted in the other half,” he said.
Benguet Rep. Eric Yap on Sunday called on the BOC to file a case against the consignees of the container shipments with agricultural products believed to be smuggled that were intercepted at the Port of Subic and the Department of Agriculture.
He said this was P20.193 million worth of seized agricultural products that almost got out of the port and that would find their way into local markets, hurting Filipino farmers.
“We are urging the BOC to file a case against those involved in the entry of these container shipments…. Let us show the teeth of our law.
These are worth over P1 million. Its offense is non-bailable. Let’s name and prosecute them,” he said.
Yap said arresting the smugglers is not enough, when not even one has been convicted.
“They (smugglers) are not even trying to conceal these shipments anymore. Why? Because no one gets jailed,” he said.
“We will wait for the BOC to file a case against Veneta Consumer GoodsTrading and Lalavy Aggregates Trading, the consignees of the shipments.
Smuggling above P1 million is non-bailable. If these consignees, brokers, and others involved do not get imprisoned, what can happen? I will be filing a House resolution asking why there is no conviction for such case despite the evidence. We want to make sure that we hold these smugglers liable,” he said.
Yap vowed to raise this issue in the forthcoming technical working group meeting of the House committee on agriculture and food amid the discussion of House Bill No. 319 or the Increasing Penalties on Vegetable Smuggling, and House Resolution No. 108 or Investigating the Continued Smuggling of Agri Products.
On Monday, the Senate ways and means committee will conduct an inspection and walkthrough at the BOC in Port Area, Manila.
In a news release on Sunday, committee chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said they will be with the officers and members of the Senate Tax Study and Research Office to assess the BOC’s modernization program, which covers the integration of the Ports of Manila, Cebu, and Davao and the Manila International Container Port to the Customs Operations Center in Port Area.
Last week, the government confiscated a shipment of 100,000 kilos of white onions which were undervalued and misdeclared as bread and pastries.
Also recently, BOC agents intercepted more than P63 million worth of frozen goods from Hong Kong and China.
A major component of the BOC modernization program focuses on transitioning from a largely manual and paper-based organization into a modernized agency compliant with global standards by 2024.
“The BOC’s revenue collection performance would improve if smuggling is effectively addressed. Higher budgetary allocations to finance the government’s projects can be realized if revenue-collecting agencies are able to meet their target,” Gatchalian said.
