“I, myself, am puzzled why until now, not a single agricultural smuggler is in prison.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito yesterday called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to join forces against smuggler of agricultural products.

The senator stressed the need to impose maximum penalties on smugglers if only to send a strong warning against those involved in the illegal activity.

One of the principal authors of Republic Act 1085 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law, Ejercito said that no smuggler has been jailed since the enactment of the measure two years ago.

Apart from the smugglers, he also called for the arrest of their protectors in government.

“I am renewing my call on the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Agriculture to join forces against the smuggling of agricultural products and put behind bars the smugglers and their protectors in the government,” said the solon.

“I myself am puzzled why until now, or two years after the enactment of the measure, not a single agricultural smuggler is in prison. I don’t know, maybe there are, I just did not hear about it,” he added.

“I think we need to send a strong signal to the smugglers that we are not soft on them and we are determined to haul them off to jail because under Republic Act 1085…large-scale agricultural smuggling is declared as an economic sabotage with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment,” he said.

“While we are tightening our ports to prevent the entry of smuggled products, we also need to clamp down on smugglers by arresting them, prosecuting them and putting them inside prison cells,” he added.

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