Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito has filed a bill seeking to amend the existing law on anti-agricultural smuggling saying it is necessary to provide stringent provisions against hoarders, profiteering traders who engage in hoarding, profiteering and cartel of prime agricultural products such as rice, corn and sugar.
In filing Senate Bill No. 1688, Ejercito sought to consider as economic sabotage the hoarding, profiteering and cartel of sugar, corn, poultry, pork, garlic, onion, carrots, fish and cruciferous vegetables in the amount of P1-million or rice in the amount of P10-million.
“As the principal author of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling law, I envisioned that this will be a big boost to the agricultural sector. In light of this, it is high time to introduce amendments to the law, in order to address and hopefully end not only smuggling, but also the issues of hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products,” Ejercito said.
“Our ultimate goal is safeguarding our farmers, consumers and the agricultural sector, and attaining the goal of food security for the country,” he said.
Republic Act No. 10845 or the “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016” considers the crime of large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage involving sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish and cruciferous vegetables, in its raw state, or which have undergone the simple processes of preparation or preservation for the market.
Under Ejercito’s bill, the title of RA No. 10845 would be amended to add to large-scale agricultural smuggling, the “hoarding, profiteering, cartel and other acts of market abuses” as economic sabotage, and prescribing penalties for it.
The bill also seeks to change the title of the law to “Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act of 2023.”
Ejercito’s bill also seeks the creation of the Inter-Agency Council on Economic Intelligence in order to strengthen the enforcement and implementation of the anti-agricultural smuggling law.
The said inter-agency council would be co-chaired by the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
The Council would also include the Department Of Justice (DOJ), National Bureau Of Investigation (NBI), Department Of Interior And Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), National Security Council (NSC), and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).
Ejercito said amending the existing anti-agricultural smuggling law is necessary as even President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. “recognized the widespread smuggling with his recent call for significant reforms in the bureaucracy in order to thwart and curtail the proliferation of the same.”