Senators on Monday said it is imperative for the government to go after the so-called “untouchables” who are behind the large-scale food smuggling in the country, affecting the livelihood of locals farmers and fishermen in the Philippines.
“Merong (There are) untouchables. May mga (There are many) untouchables. Malakas ang kapit na ayaw nilang habulin. Iyan ang basa ko diyan (They have influential backers in government that’s why they cannot go after them. That’s my reading of this situation),” Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said at the continuation of the Senate’s inquiry into the rampant agricultural smuggling in the country.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who chairs the Senate Committee of the Whole, said he will thoroughly study the list of names submitted to him by Department of Agriculture (DA) Assistant Secretary Federico Laciste Jr. who was in-charge of monitoring agricultural importations.
During the hearing on Monday, Laciste told the Senate panel how some government officials “would call him up” for some “compromises” in the course of his duty.
Pangilinan said these “untouchables” have a strong connection with high officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which senators noted during the hearing, has been reluctant to go into full modernization.
Interviewed after the hearing, Sotto said the list given to him by Laciste consists of former and incumbent officials and he is keen on calling for another hearing to call for these personalities.
“Tignan muna natin kung ano ang listahan, kung ano ang mapapala namin kapag ipinatawag sila. Kung mga incumbent yan pwede nating ipatawag yan (We’ll first check the list, and see if we can benefit if we invite former government officials involved here in the hearing. But if they are incumbent officials, we can call for them),” Sotto, a vice presidential candidate in the upcoming May 2022 elections, told reporters in an interview.
Earlier in the hearing, Agot Balanoy of the League of Associations of La Trinidad Vegetables testified that smuggling has destroyed the livelihood of farmers and everyone involved in the food industry eco-system.
Despite reporting to the Department of Agriculture (DA), as early as July last year, she said the agency did not bat an eye, and instead shrugged off the smuggling issue.
“We started complaining last year of July and August. But the DA denied that there is smuggling, or that there are smuggled vegetables coming from China entering our markets,” she said.
Unfortunately, local sellers prefer buying the smuggled vegetables as these are cheaper and with longer life span compared to the locally produced vegetables. This resulted in the 40 percent decrease in the regular daily order of carrots for Benguet farmers, amounting to at least P2.5 million pesos loss in revenue daily.
Balanoy also criticized the slow-paced action of their local officials, including ACT-CIS Representative Eric Yap, in addressing the issue, saying they offered no assistance at all.
Balanoy said Yap stated in a press release that he had filed a resolution in Congress calling for the investigation into the smuggling issue, but said she is skeptical about the resolution, since Yap has been identified as a smuggler in a Manila Times article and in a privilege speech made by Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Pangilinan pointed out Yap, who was born in Davao City, has been known for his closeness to presidential son and Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte. Prior to joining politics, he said Yap and his family made money as customs brokers.
Lacson, who is seeking the presidency in the May polls, said it is obvious that those behind the agricultural smuggling activities were influential people given that those in the BOC and DA refuses to arrest those whom they know are involved and are finger-pointing.
He also cited information reaching him that some importers found engaged in smuggling are blacklisted but would merely change their names and get accredited again.
"Kung obvious na smuggled, huwag na tayo magturuan kasi may citizens arrest. Pwedeng kumpiskahin ng maski sino, humingi ng assistance from law enforcement to do so (If it’s obviously smuggled, let’s stop finger-pointing because there is such a thing as citizens’ arrest. Anybody can effect it seize the contrabands and ask for assistance from law enforcement to do so),” Lacson pointed out to the DA and BOC during the hearing.
“Even as a plain citizen you can conduct arrests and call for the assistance of the authorities, ang pwede mag-file ng kaso, etc. (and you can file cases),” he stressed.