The names of four alleged smugglers supposedly protected by government officials were revealed Tuesday, April 12 during a Senate Committee of the Whole hybrid public hearing on the alleged widespread agriculture produce smuggling that is causing damage to the country’s multi-billion peso vegetable industry.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Committee of the Whole chairman, identified the four as:

Manuel Tan, who allegedly operates in Subic, Cagayan de Oro. And Batangas; Andrew Chang, who operates in Subic, Batangas and Manila Intternational container port (MICP); Luz or Lea Cruz, tagged as the ‘’Onion Queen’’ at MICP and Cagayan de Oro; and Jun Diamante, who allegedly brings in agri-fishery products in Cagayan de Oro.

Sotto did not say the four names came from but told the media during a forum yesterday that the list came from a whistleblower.

In Tuesday’s hearing, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director Edsel Batalla said the names of the alleged smugglers and their protectors are subjected to investigation and validation to prevent ‘’undue embarrassment’’ on their part should their identities be revealed.

The names were mined by a Sub-Group Task Force on Economic Intelligence, which started its work in April last year.

Pressed by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, Batalla said these names are being validated because they are still classified as ‘’raw information".

When asked about the more than 20 names being validated by NICA, Batalla said the 20 are being investigated for alleged smuggling activities and about five are being probed for being ‘’protectors".

‘’How long shall we wait for the resolution’’ of the NICA investigation, Pimentel asked.

When Sotto named the four, Batalla said these names were on the list of more than 20 alleged smugglers and protectors.

He said they are using their database and are investigating the information through the community and ground level.

Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Leonardo Guerrero said some of the names that are familiar to him.

Sotto lamented that there have been many confiscations by the BOC but not one suspect has been clapped in jail by the courts.

Senator Panfilo Lacson also shared the frustration of Sotto and Agot Balanoy--public relations officer of a Benguet association of 130,00 agricultural farmers--that smuggled agricultural goods would be gone in the markets but their sale would perk up days after the Senate investigation.

Balanoy was reported to have received threats for publicly revealing the hardships being experienced by the association members.

Representative Eric Yap told the Senate panel that Guerrero would report customs' confiscations of agricultural produce after he has relayed the complaints of Benguet farmers.

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