Senator Cynthia A. Villar is pushing for the creation of special courts to try exclusively smuggling cases worth billions of pesos that has prejudiced farmers and the economy. Villar said regional trial courts (RTCs) have not been effective. In today’s  hybrid public  hearing  of  the  Senate Committee on Justice  and  Human  Rights;  and  the  committees on agriculture,  food,  and agrarian reform; and finance on Senate Bill No. 1963 which she authored, Villar expressed her belief that the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act would be implemented effectively if there is a court dedicated to smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products. Villar pointed out that even with the existence of law against agricultural smuggling, there have been no smugglers charged with economic sabotage. In a statement she reading before the start of the hybrid hearing, Villar said that  In 2016, Congress passed RA 10817 “ The Agri Smuggling Act” which she authored. “The cut of amount to be declared as economic sabotage and non-bailable if P10 million  for rice and P1 million for other agri-products. I read in the papers of smuggling of more than cut off amount and yet no smugglers was charged with economic sabotage. In addition, during the onion crisis, the production cost of onion is at maximum of P25/kg and yet being sold at P600-P700/kg,’’ she said. “There is really hoarding, price manipulation and cartel. We are amending the Anti- smuggling Act to give more teeth to it and to include hoarding, price manipulation and cartel as economic sabotage and non-bailable. We intend also to create an Anti-Smuggling Court to ensure the proper implementation of the law,’’ she added. Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino, chairperson of the Senate justice committee, said Villar filed Senate Bill 1963 to address the seemingly uncontrollable spike of prices brought about by the “smuggling” of agricultural products. Despite Republic Act No. 10845, known as the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, Tolentino said smuggling of agricultural products continue to proliferate in the Philippines. The main purpose of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court is to try cases involving smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products and to ensure that individuals and organizations involved in these activities are held accountable for their actions. Supreme Court Justice Raul Villanueva said the High Tribunal is leaving to the Senate the creation of special courts. A member of the Philippine Judges Association suggested that the proposed special court should be attached as the fourth branch of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA). Jesus Carranza, head of the Federation of Filipino industries, supported the Villar bill, adding that the Philippines has been losing P250 billion in value added tax  (VAT) through smuggling. Most of the successful smuggling operations happened at the ports and very small percentage are seized at warehouses, he said. Before, there were some 1.5 million spindles used by the textile industry. Now, there are only 110,000, he added. Arranza recommended that anybody prejudiced by the smuggling operations should be allowed to file charges as a majority of the cases filed were dismissed by the Department of Justice. The reason, according to Arranza, is that documents at the Bureau of Customs get lost. He also said that substandard products are smuggled to the detriment of the construction industry. Jayson Cainglet, Sinag executive director,  lamented that there were 300 cases of smuggling filed but so far no conviction has been recorded. ‘’Kaya  tuloy-tuloy (that’s why smuggling continues),’’ he added. When customs officials testified that not one has been convicted, Tolentino said he and Villar has no one to visit at the country’s jail. Tolentino, also chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, strongly suggested that licenses  of businessmen should be cancelled by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when their shipments are seized. Villar said thus accused before the Anti-Agricultural  Smuggling  Courts should not be allowed to post bill. Since those accused are rich and can afford to post bill, their stay at detention centers during the pendency of the case is punishment enough. They can spend their money to fix their cases ‘’and they don’t care about money,’’ she added. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asks the committees to review the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10845, known as the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016. In today’s hybrid hearing, Pimentel suggested to the committee to look closely and review RA 10845 to determine how a simple law was made difficult to enforce because of a faulty IRR. “Maybe we can add a specific crime to the law like 'refusal to prosecute large scale agricultural smuggling' which will make liable the legal department (of the Bureau of Customs) and even the Department of Justice prosecutors, depending on the evidence,” Pimentel said “This is similar to obstruction of justice but very specific. In my opinion, this will be additional teeth to the law,” he added. Pimentel also wanted to amend section 3 of RA 10845 by rewriting the phrase “as valued by the Bureau of Customs” and involve the Department of Agriculture in valuating smuggled agricultural products in order to put flexibility to the law.