Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Monday, September 1 pushed for the full implementation of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act saying the continuous failure to uphold the law undermines the country’s food security and emboldens criminal networks to profit at the expense of the nation.

At the second hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, joint with the Committees on Ways and Means and Finance, Pangilinan renewed his call for the government to put a stop to the rampant agricultural smuggling in the country and to hold smugglers and profiteers fully accountable using the law.

Pangilinan lamented the similarities of the anomalous flood control projects with the country’s long-standing problems with agricultural smuggling.

“There are many similarities between the recurring floods here in Metro Manila and the food crisis. Apart from being rooted in corruption and injustice, the floods and the food crisis are what are causing the greatest hardship to the average Filipino,” Pangilinan said.

“The average Filipino who only asks for safe streets, fair prices, and affordable food on the table,” the senator added.

He warned that if unscrupulous rice traders and smugglers are allowed to dictate the prices of food because of the rampant price manipulation, hoarding, profiteering, and unfair trade practices, Filipinos will continue to suffer from the high prices of food and farmers will remain one of the country’s most impoverished sectors.

“When smugglers flood our markets with cheap, untaxed, and unfit for consumption goods, they are not only destroying the livelihoods of farmers. They are also sabotaging national security, draining government coffers, and further eroding the people’s trust in the state,” he pointed out.

Pangilinan cited an attempt to bring in P143 million worth of agricultural products through the Port of Subic this year alone.

He also pointed to an incident in July, where 10 containers declared to contain processed foods were instead found to have carrots, white onions, and frozen mackerel worth around P100 million.

The amount, Pangilinan noted, is well above the P10-million threshold of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which makes the offense non-bailable and those guilty can face life imprisonment and penalties up to five times the amount of the smuggled goods.

“The law is harsh on agricultural smugglers because the law recognizes that sabotaging our food supply is not a simple distortion of the law,” he explained.

“There is a recognition that sabotaging our food supply is a crime that hits you in the stomach,” the lawmaker emphasized.