The Senate and the House of Representatives are currently harmonizing their respective versions of the proposed Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, a leader of the House of Representatives said.
House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Wilfrido Mark Enverga said a pre-bicameral conference has already taken place, where concerns were raised regarding the proposed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
He noted the divergence in approaches between the House and the Senate.
“While the House proposed amendments to the existing Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law, the Senate put forth a version calling for a complete repeal and rewriting of the law, leading to an initial impasse.”
To resolve this impasse, Enverga said the House has been in constant communication with the staff of Senator Cynthia Villar, the lead in the Senate’s efforts.
He noted that this “proactive engagement” has been ongoing since the start of mid-January.
“I hope that the staff will inform Senator Villar that we have been in constant communication with their office,” Enverga stated, expressing a commitment to transparency and effective collaboration.
“As of Monday, the House has spoken to their Senate counterparts, and plans are underway to set a date in the coming weeks.”
He said the Senate has expressed interest in discussing the pre-bicameral conference to address disagreeing provisions, indicating a positive trajectory towards the passage of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
The House of Representatives has approved, on its third and final reading, the measure strengthening the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act by imposing the penalty of life imprisonment on smugglers of agricultural products.
House Bill 9284 would amend Republic Act (RA) 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, to include the smuggling of agri-fishery commodities and tobacco products as economic sabotage.
The bill also establishes the Anti-Agro Fishery Commodities and Tobacco Economic Sabotage Council to oversee the implementation of the law.
In September 2023, Villar urged her peers to approve a measure defining and proposing stiff penalties for agriculture economic sabotage to include not only smuggling but also hoarding, profiteering and cartel.
Embodied in Senate Bill 1086, Committee Report No. 12 of the Committee on Agriculture that Villar chairs, would repeal the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 or RA 10845.
With no conviction made seven years after the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act was enacted, the law is “a failure” at the hands of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which was mandated to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations of the existing law within 30 days upon its effectivity.
“It’s been seven years and there is not a single conviction,” said Villar.