A lawmaker is pressing for an all-out crackdown against big-time smugglers of agricultural products who are distorting market prices and hurting local farmers.
Over the weekend, Senator Win Gatchalian enjoined concerned agencies to track down smuggling syndicates to shield local farmers from “unwarranted competition.”
Gatchalian conveyed farmers’ complaints citing reports that while smuggled agri products are being confiscated left and right, the so-called “big fishes” behind the smuggling of farm products remain untouched.
“Kaliwa’t kanan ang mga nakukumpiskang produktong smuggled pero wala pang nahuhuling malaking isda. Dapat masawata ang mismong mga ‘big fish’ upang mahinto o mabawasan na ang iligal na pag-aangkat ng mga produkto,” the senator said in a statement.
He recalled that Senators had convened as a Committee of the Whole and rendered a Senate inquiry report in June last year citing “certain individuals’ possible involvement in large-scale agricultural smuggling.”
Gatchalian said “prices of various farm products have gone up considerably due in part to rampant smuggling of agricultural products that have rendered local farm output practically uncompetitive, which, in turn, undermines the productivity of local farmers.”
The senator took note of findings that “aside from causing undue disadvantage to local farmers, smuggling also caused losses to the government in terms of unpaid duties and taxes. It is a major deterrent to economic growth, particularly in the countryside where our farmers are located.”
Citing data from the Department of Agriculture included in a report provided to Senate probers, Gatchalian said about P667.5 million worth of agriculture and fishery products were smuggled into the country even as the Bureau of Customs conducted 542 seizure cases involving P1.99 billion worth of agricultural products between 2019 and 2022.
Farm commodities being smuggled into the country include sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables, as per data cited by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture.
Over the years, lower productivity rates have led to higher cost of farm products to the detriment of consumers, especially during a seasonal uptick in demand and taking into consideration the negative impact of typhoons and other calamities, Gatchalian said.
He said the full extent of the law should be implemented as far as Republic Act 10845, also known as An Act Declaring Large-Scale Agricultural Smuggling as Economic Sabotage, is concerned. Despite the law’s enactment in 2016, smuggled agricultural products continue to enter the country unabated, he said.