Hoarding, smuggling still rampant, says agri group

Despite the enactment of Republic Act 12022, the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, groups and lawmakers continue to express concerns over rampant rice hoarding and smuggling in the Philippines.

This comes as Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, questioned the effectiveness of the law, while AGAP Partylist Representative Nic Briones called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to review Executive Order (EO) 62, which lowered the tariff on imported rice.

Briones argued that the lower tariff has not translated to lower rice prices for consumers. He pointed out that importers and traders, rather than consumers, have benefited from the EO.

In a Congressional hearing last week, Department of Agriculture(DA)-Bureau of Plant Industry director Glenn Panganiban admitted that importers or traders were the ones who benefit from the EO and not the consumers.

The Bureau of Customs (BoC), for their part during the hearing, said the government had lost at least P12 billion in revenues because of EO 62 or the lowering of tariffs, anchored under the Rice Tariffication Law.

If that’s the case where our consumers have not benefited, Briones proposed to continue the review, or immediately revoke the tariff reduction and revert to a 35 percent tariff on imported rice.

Also, Briones called on the DA to identify the top 10 rice importers in the country, to have at least transparency, and to stop rice cartels, profiteering, hoarding, and smuggling, which was mandated by the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, penned by Briones in its Congress version, and Villar at the Senate.

To recall, the BoC recently seized 21 containers or 508 tons of smuggled frozen mackerel from China at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), amounting to P178.5 million.

Briones identified the importer as “Pacific Sealand Foods Corporation” which did not have an application for the mackerel importation, even Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance when it was dropped off at the MICP, considered as smuggling.

“This falls under the Economic Sabotage Act and the penalty for this is non-bailable and lifetime imprisonment. This law needs to be enforced along with the five-fold fine that should be imposed on anyone who violates this Act,” Briones said.

To address these issues, Briones proposed either revoking the tariff reduction or continuing its review. He also called for increased transparency in rice importation, particularly by identifying the top 10 importers.

Also, Briones urged the government to strictly enforce the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act against those involved in hoarding and smuggling.