The Department of Agriculture (DA) expressed hope on Monday, Oct. 11, that the agreement it signed with the Bureau of Customs would put an end to the smuggling of agricultural products into the country.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the agreement would strengthen the government's campaign against smuggling which have been affecting the local farmers.
Recently, farmers at the Cordillera Administrative Region were forced to throw away tomatoes and carrots reportedly due to the entry of various agriculture products mostly from China.
Last Friday, Oct. 8, the DA and the BOC –led by Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero signed an agreement in hopes to strengthen the “second border” for inspections and create a technical working group (TWG) to review the 15-year-old guidelines and procedures on handling imported food items.
“Iyan ang isang direksyon ng ugnayan (with BOC), meron at meron (that we'll catch), stand by lang (That’s one of the directions of the partnership . There will be , just stand by.), said said Dar during the DA online press conference with undersecretary Noel Ferrer held Monday, Oct. 11.
“This is a milestone in the partnership between the DA and BOC,” he said. “Everything that we requested, pinayagan (allowed), everything that they requested are also in sync with them. Ang aking (My) mindset and mechanism are now well in place. We agreed to continue to elevate our partnership, two, there are guidelines that we need to harmonize so that this partnership will be very – the efficiency and the effectiveness can be much higher," he added.
The inspection will include investigation of ‘misdeclared’ goods, where violators would be penalized accordingly.
Also, renewed measures of the DA-BOC anti-smuggling efforts on all fresh and frozen agri-fishery cargoes will continue to have an “open-close” examination at the “first border” or port of entry.
The goods will now also be subjected to a stricter 100-percent inspection once they arrive at the designated warehouses or “second border.”
The TWG is chaired by agriculture assistant secretary for regulations Liza Battad, and co-chaired by DA assistant secretary for economic intelligence Federico Laciste, BOC deputy commissioner intelligence group Raniel Ramiro and assistant commissioner for post-clearance audit group Vincent Phillip Maronilla.
“Meron tayong (We have) working group na tina-tag (that we) from both sides, and they’ll recommend yung harmonization of guidelines, from first border inspection to the strengthening of the second border inspection,” the DA secretary said.