Speed up investigation on agri smuggling, DA urges DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to speed up its investigation on the smuggling of agricultural products into the country so as to discourage similar actions.

In a Laging Handa public briefing yesterday, Agriculture Undersecretary Fermin Adriano said they are following up the DOJ on its investigation of the alleged individuals involved in the smuggling of vegetables into the country.

“For us, we want the process to be faster so that it can serve as an example and discourage this [smuggling],” Adriano said in Filipino.

Adriano emphasized that smuggling greatly impacts Filipino farmers, whose produce suffer from undue competition. “So the DOJ really needs to intensify its prosecution and hopefully accelerate it,” he said.

Earlier this month, Sen. Vicente Sotto III identified four individuals allegedly responsible for vegetable smuggling in the country.

Adriano stressed that the DA does not have the power to apprehend and prosecute those involved in smuggling.

Meanwhile, he said an investigation continues to be conducted within the DA to check for individuals involved in agricultural smuggling.

He added that Agriculture Secretary William Dar has formed a committee for the investigation.

Dar said earlier that the DA will intensify its efforts to weed out corruption from the agency, emphasizing that they will file administrative charges against officials involved in the smuggling of agricultural products.

Regarding the smuggling of palm oil, Adriano said the DA is currently seeking utilization reports from importers.

“Our problem is, I think there was a loophole somewhere, where they really come in as animal feeds. The only problem is that they did not follow the utilization,” Adriano said in a hearing by the House of Representatives yesterday.

“Once they’re out of the port, the problem is we didn’t know these can be converted into cooking oil until very lately because of the coconut industry people,” Adriano said, adding that he was alerted by Philippine Coconut Authority administrator Benjamin Madrigal last year on the problem.

Last week, Adriano said the DA has been investigating since last year the alleged smuggling of palm oil as animal feed but which is processed as cooking oil for human consumption. He emphasized that palm oil as animal feeds is imposed zero tariff and is not classified as a product to be imposed a 12 percent e-VAT.

Adriano said the DA sought the assistance of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) which conducted an investigation in January 2022, results of which were submitted to Dar in February.

The investigation found that there is a huge discrepancy in the volume of palm oil imports certified by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) against those allowed to enter by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Data from the ARTA showed that entry of palm oil has been ongoing since 2016, with imports registering 1.181 million kilos in the same year, based on BOC data. In contrast, BAI data recorded an import volume of 2.421 million kilos.

The ARTA recommended the DA to conduct its own investigation on the data discrepancy.

Prosecution awaits smugglers – Ping

Meanwhile, the tandem of presidential bet Sen. Panfilo Lacson and running mate Senate President Sotto vowed to protect the agriculture industry and prosecute vegetable smugglers and their backers if they win the elections.

Sotto said a vote for the Lacson-Sotto tandem in the May 9 elections would be a vote equivalent to the protection of the agriculture industry and its sectoral players as well the prosecution of vegetable smugglers and their backers.

Sotto said that if he and Lacson win in the coming elections, they will ensure that agricultural criminals would be charged within a year of their administration, and convicted and sent to jail before their six-year term ends.

“I call on our farmers, fishermen, as well as our poultry and hog raisers to help us with Senator Lacson to be installed as the president and vice president of our country when we can finally stop and imprison the syndicates behind agricultural smuggling here,” Sotto said.

“It is unfortunate that during the six years of this administration, our government’s conviction rate has skyrocketed despite the arrest of so many suspected smugglers. Instead of being imprisoned, these evil spirits were overwhelmed and their illegal importation of agricultural products became even more obvious. This will not happen under the Lacson-Sotto administration. We will change this rotten system of government,” he said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe