The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform has sought the creation of an Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Task Force and an Anti-Smuggling Court to end the days of cartels that preyed on farmers and exacted high prices of agricultural produce in the markets.

These were contained in a list of "transformative" measures to combat agricultural smuggling in the country by the agriculture committee chaired by Senator Cynthia A. Villar.

Implementation of these measures "would see the end of the days when we are always at the mercy of these cartels," Villar said.

It will be recalled that in October 2022, the market price of onions started to increase uncontrollably and later on skyrocketed to P750 per kilo during the Christmas Season, making Philippine Onions the world’s most expensive.

This prompted the Villar committee to launch an inquiry in aid of legislation on January 16, 2023.

During the hearing, it was revealed that the onions being sold in the market at P700-750 per kilo were bought from the farmers of Occidental Mindoro at a shocking price of P8-15 per kilo during the harvest season.

The hoarders, in collusion, store these supply in the cold storage to create a shortage so that the price would go up. A clear scenario of price manipulation.

In response to the smuggling issues that hounded the Department of Agriculture (DA), the committee came up with recommendations in Committee Report No. 25.

This includes the amendment of Republic Act (RA) 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 to include profiteering, hoarding, and engaging in cartel in addition to smuggling in its list of crimes involving economic sabotage.

“I will make the amendment to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act to be explicit and very specific so that there will be no room for the implementors to interpret the intent and spirit of the law through the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). We will include hoarding, profiteering, and engaging in cartel, as forms of economic sabotage, and we will also increase the penalty under this law,’’ she stressed.

Villar also reiterated the digitalization of the customs transaction through the implementation of the National Single Window as provided for in the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.

Another prominent recommendation was to establish an “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Task Force” to serve and protect the entire agricultural sector, not only the onion industry.

And to give the Task Force the muscle to bring these smugglers, profiteers, and hoarders to justice, a Special Court was proposed to be created to specifically try and hear economic sabotage cases with a Special Team of Prosecutors to assist the Task Force in the expeditious prosecution , Villar explained.