Big-time onion smuggler falls

The long arm of the law has caught up with a big-time onion smuggler in Batangas, Agriculture Secretary Francisco "Sec. Kiko" Tiu Laurel Jr. announced on Friday.

Laurel said that at around 3 p.m. on 15 November, police operatives arrested Jayson de Roxas Taculog for violation of Republic Act 10845, or Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.

The arrest warrant was issued by Presiding Judge Edilu Hayag of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26. No bail was recommended.

"Taculog's arrest is just the beginning. With help from the police, the courts, and local government units, the Department of Agriculture will continue to run after smugglers and economic saboteurs," Laurel said.

He said Taculog was arrested for using fake, fictitious, and fraudulent import permits and shipping documents.

Aside from tax evasion, he was also charged with misclassification, undervaluation, and misdeclaration of import entries and revenue declarations submitted to the Bureau of Customs. At the same time, he was accused of acting as the broker for a violating importer.

If found guilty, Taculog faces the possibility of life imprisonment. He may also be fined twice the fair value of the smuggled agricultural products and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other charges he avoided paying.

"One of the President's marching orders is to go after smugglers and hoarders. We immediately implemented the President's directive," Laurel said.

"Smugglers and hoarders are destroying not just the livelihood of our farmers, they are exploiting Filipino consumers with high food prices," he added.

The DA, Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Customs seized P78.9 million worth of illegally imported agricultural goods consigned to Taculog J International Consumer Goods Trading in separate operations at the Manila International Container Port from December 2022 to January 2023.

Based on the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, large-scale agricultural smuggling occurs when at least P10 million worth of rice or at least P1 million worth of sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onions, carrots, fish and cruciferous vegetables — either raw, processed or preserved — is illegally brought into the country.

It can be recalled that onion prices spiked in September 2022 and peaked in January 2023 at between P400 and P700 per kilo due to smuggling and hoarding by unscrupulous traders.