THE government’s approach to containing agricultural smuggling must focus on prevention rather than harsher penalties, industry officials said.
Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of Federation of Free Farmers, added in a messenger chat that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. did not mention his plan to reinstate pre-shipment inspections of farm imports during his second State of the Nation Address last week.
Mr. Montemayor said such inspections involve an independent entity checking cargoes for weight, contents, value, and quarantine clearance before they are shipped to the Philippines.
“Without such preventive measures, cargoes can be easily spirited out of our ports, misdeclared and undervalued, and then government will have to exert a lot of time and money running after the smuggled goods,” he said.
Mr. Marcos, who is also Secretary of Agriculture, warned the smugglers and hoarders as he said they are the reason behind rising prices of agricultural commodities.
“One of the reasons for rising prices is the presence of smugglers, hoarders, and those who manipulate the prices of agricultural products. We will look for them and file complaints against them,” he said.
“What they are doing is not right, they are committing fraud. Not only farmers are affected, but consumers as well. That’s why we won’t allow such practices. The days of smugglers and hoarders are numbered,” he added.
He also urged Congress to amend Republic Act No. 10845 or the Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The law defines the crime of large-scale agricultural smuggling as the illegal import of at least P1 million worth of sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables — either raw, processed, or preserved. The threshold for rice is P10 million.
Sonny A. Africa, executive director of think tank Ibon Foundation, said that Mr. Marcos “could have done so much” in his first year against smugglers and hoarders. “It’s not as if they only just showed up after he came to power.”
“Choosing to focus on smugglers and hoarders… fails to grasp that the biggest factor in expensive food is the chronic lack of trade protection and domestic support for Filipino farmers and fisherfolk,” he said.
Mr. Africa said the liberalization of trade in agricultural goods is one of the factors limiting the government’s capacity to curb smuggling and hoarding.
“Controlling smugglers and hoarders is also a function of government capacity and unfortunately this capacity is exactly what has been eroded by decades of agricultural liberalization and deregulation,” he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera