Gov't strengthens fight against rice smuggling

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government is beefing up its campaign against rice smuggling by providing law enforcers with a checklist of legitimate rice shipments arriving in the country, a senior government official said today.

Bureau of Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said the police and the military are very instrumental in fight against illegal rice smuggling.

"We want them with the proper knowledge that can help them in their anti-smuggling campaign especially with the spate of rice smuggling in far flung areas. This information drive will certainly boost their ability to detect and identify documents needed to constitute a legitimate rice importation," he said, adding that the checklist will be distributed as soon as possible.

According to Sevilla, the checklist will include the legal documents needed for rice importation that authorities should check when inspecting rice shipments like the Bill of Lading, commercial invoice, BOC and National Food Authority (NFA) import permits.

Presidential Decree 4, Republic Act 7178 or the Agricultural Tariffication Act mandates that only the NFA can import rice and private entities who wish to do the same must secure a permit from the agency.

Recently, the BOC seized P200 million ($4.5 million) worth of smuggled Vietnamese rice in southern Philippine container terminals.