Filipino farmers are calling for the reintroduction of a pre-shipment and discharge port inspection system to stop large-scale agricultural smuggling, curb price manipulation, and ensure the safety of food imports.
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) issued this statement as smuggling of agriculture products continued amid shortages, either artificial or real, of local supply and production.
As a complementary measure, the FFF also recommended the approval of a law or a presidential executive order creating - within the Department of Agriculture (DA) – an Inspectorate and Enforcement Service and empowering it to file cases against suspected violators of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 (R.A. No. 10845) and the Food Safety Act of 2013 (R.A. No. 10611).
According to FFF Board Chairman and former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who is also the concurrent DA secretary, recently asked for a cost-benefit analysis of contracting with a global provider of pre-shipment inspection services like the Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS). The SGS had previously provided such services to the Philippine government until 2000, when these functions were reverted to the Bureau of Customs (BoC).
“Since then, smuggling of farm and fisheries products has grown by leaps and bounds. This has caused tremendous financial losses to government and the agricultural sector, and has compromised the health and safety of consumers,” Montemayor said.
He added that a reputable pre-shipment inspection company “can be very helpful in addressing the persistent undervaluation and misdeclaration of agricultural imports, which is resulting in tens – if not hundreds – of billions of lost customs collections every year”.
The FFF official further proposed that the President or the Secretary of Finance immediately amend the implementing rules and regulations of R.A. 10845, so that the DA – in coordination with the BoC and other concerned agencies- can file complaints against suspected agricultural smugglers in court.
Montemayor noted that – despite limited funding and manpower and legal ambiguities about the DA’s powers – the newly created anti-smuggling unit under Assistant Secretary James A. Layug had managed to seize P2.2 billion worth of agri-fishery products and file 49 cases against suspected smugglers. The seized items included refined sugar, onions, pork, beef, fish, and carrots.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Montemayor stressed.