Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Monday, February 13, expressed hopes that the new Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief will prioritize the resolution of agricultural smuggling in the country.
Malacañang, last Friday, February 10, announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named Bienvenido Rubio as the new Customs chief, his first full-time BOC chief.
“Good luck to Commissioner Rubio; he will have a huge role in the BOC and in stopping large-scale smuggling,” Ejercito said in Filipino in an interview on GMANewsTv.
“I hope Commissioner Rubio will be able to guard our ports effectively against agricultural smuggling,” he said.
While he welcomes the appointment of a new BOC Commissioner, Ejercito said he hopes the same will happen to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The senator said it would be ideal for President Marcos to appoint a full-time agriculture secretary. The President is the concurrent DA secretary.
“Having a permanent DA secretary would be beneficial for us, because the problems within the agency is so complicated,” he said.
Ejercito said he is frustrated that despite the existing Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, no personality involved in large-scale smuggling have been arrested or prosecuted yet.
“The law has very good intentions, but it is obvious there is a collusion among the BOC, traders and importers,” he pointed out.