Former House Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza on Tuesday urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., who is also the secretary of the Department of Agriculture, to ensure container vans are not used for smuggling agricultural products by strictly implementing the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) provision strongly encouraging pre-shipment inspection of all incoming container vans from their ports of origin.
Atienza, in a statement, asked Marcos to do what presidents before him had failed to do—solving the smuggling of agricultural products.
“As the head of the Department of Agriculture, we strongly urge the new administration to immediately and effectively address this long-festering problem of corruption which allows the continued entry of imported agricultural products that is hurting our economy and our local farmers,” he said.
According to Atienza, the CMTA or R.A. 10863 has a provision that encourages pre-shipment inspection of all incoming container vans from their ports of origin.
The law was passed in 2016 during the time of the late former President Benigno Aquino III.
“They did not implement it then, and the administration of President Duterte did not use it either. Of the average 10,000 container vans entering the country each day, only a measly 300 gets inspected. This same inadequacy of the Customs bureau in inspecting each and every one of the 10,000 vans that comes in has allowed the entry of shabu in many cases, with two of the biggest being discovered by authorities. And yet the vans continue to come in uninspected,” Atienza said.
Atienza, a former mayor of Manila and Environment Secretary, has consistently called on the government to implement Section 440 of RA 10863—which Atienza had introduced—as a way of addressing the entry of illegal substances such as drugs and agricultural products.
Atienza subsequently filed House Bill 2591 to amend the said section, making all cargo in container vans undergo mandatory inspection before leaving their ports of origin.
“It is about time that the President, in this case President Bongbong Marcos, does something against smuggling and takes advantage of this particular law. This is a piece of unsolicited advice from me, Mr. President, reminding you that you have a law that you can use to squarely address this huge problem of smuggling of agricultural products and illegal substances,” he said.
“The implementation of the mandatory inspection and clearance of all container vans before leaving their ports of origin would remove all personal and discretionary assessment done by Customs personnel at their points of entry in the Philippines because that is where corruption enters the picture. With the enforcement of mandatory pre-shipment inspection, all incoming containers of smuggled agricultural products would not be able to enter the country. Since the President has taken a keener interest in this growing problem of agricultural smuggling, we are confident that he will be different from the past two presidents who did not take advantage of this law,” Atienza said.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes