Around P500 million worth of agricultural products have been seized while five consignees will be facing charges as government agencies intensify the fight against agricultural smuggling.
In a recent press briefing held at the Department of Agriculture (DA), DA Assistant Secretary James Layug, disclosed that members of their team are set to inspect more containers of possible smuggled goods, as they ensure the right legal procedures to sanction those who violated the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 (RA 10845) and the Food Safety Act of 2013 (RA 10611).
"We will be coordinating with Justice Secretary Remulla. We have a meeting today to address the legal aspect," Layug assured.
"We still have to work within the law and with all the legal means that we have right now, we will use it to go after them," he added, encouraging smuggling witnesses to come out and help them locate the violators of the law.
Determined to win the fight against smugglers, not just one but a composite team of government agencies were deployed to inspect the shipments consigned to Taculog J International Consumer Goods Trading on December 14, 2022 and December 16, 2022. The team includes the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Manila International Container Port–Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (MICP-CIIS), and Bureau of Customs (BOC).
In due time, Layug said, the department will reveal the names of consignees and brokers once it solidifies the cases.
"You'll be surprised that it goes beyond itong mga nagfa-file ng importation permit. So it has to be a holistic approach that's why we need the DOJ because we also need the supporting documents from the exporting countries," he noted in broken English.
The cargo was initially declared to contain steamed buns, it was revealed, but following a derogatory report submitted to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for DA Inspectorate and Enforcement (DA I&E), the team was directed to probe the eight forty-footer container vans. The team later found them to contain yellow onions, red onions, frozen fish tofu, and frozen squid flower. The estimated value of the misdeclared and misclassified agri-produce amount to P53.6 million.
The agriculture officials assured that they remain vigilant amid the fight against smuggling.
"We are on the lookout for those smugglers. We were not given the chance to know who are those 20 smugglers on that basis, were are investigating. Iniimbestigahan namin ang kanilang mga lugar kung saan-saan. Sa Metro Manila, sa Pampanga, sa Ilocos Norte, sa Subic, sa Bicol; sa Visayas, Tacloban, Cebu, Iloilo; and then sa Zamboanga, sa Misamis Occidental, sa Misamis Oriental, sa Cagayan de Oro, sa Davao, sa Cotabato," Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban assured.
Meanwhile, consumers are assured that more supplies of onions will be available early next year.
"Ang presyo ng sibuyas ay tumaas dahil nagkaroon ng shortage, supposed to be. But in a series of inspections that we have held with the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), we found out that there are smugglers that are keeping their stocks in warehouses. In that aspect, we thought, after seeing all the apprehensions that we have done, I think, we are in the position that by next year, we shall have more sibuyas," he said.