To resolve the food crisis in the country, especially the ongoing problem of surging prices of rice, meat, and fishery products in wet markets, an agricultural group has urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to activate the enforcement group of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, as hoarding, profiteering, and smuggling of agricultural products persist despite the presence of the tough law.

“The President is the chairman of the National Council that would oversee the law. Yet, the council, made up of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the National Economic and Development Authority, has not activated an enforcement group to stop the ongoing cartel, hoarding, and smuggling of agricultural products. Rice tariffs have already gone down, pero bakit mataas pa rin ang presyo ng bigas?” said Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines, Inc. president, Representative Nick Briones, in a press conference on Monday in Manila.

He said world rice prices have also gone down from $580 to $600 per metric ton and are now at $400-plus per metric ton.

“Then why do prices of rice in the wet markets remain high? It’s still P50 to P60 per kilo. Why are Filipinos not feeling the lowering of the tariffs? What I see is that erring importers, hoarders, and smugglers are not afraid of the current law because there is no enforcement group yet to pursue them,” he stated.

To date, Briones said no cases have been filed against smugglers recently apprehended by the Bureau of Customs during their operations. He alleges that some officials of the BoC remain “involved in smuggling activities in the country.”

In November last year, the BoC seized 21 container vans of frozen mackerel, consigned under a Chinese company, at the Manila International Container Port for lacking sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances.

The seized contraband has an estimated value of P178.5 million, which did not meet the requirement for filing appropriate cases under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.

“But the crime committed is technically considered as outright smuggling because it has no permits to enter the country. Dapat na-file na ang kaso at nakakulong na ang mga sangkot dito. The BoC, sadly, wanted to file cases against the Chinese national owners using the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, which is fangless and futile,” he said.

Make the bold move

Briones said the DTI, DA, and NEDA secretaries should make the move and initiate to the President to activate the enforcement group formed by the National Council, consisting of law enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, and the Philippine Coast Guard, excluding the BoC.

“We hope that the President convenes these agencies under the law because the Filipino people continue to reel with the high prices of rice, meat and poultry, and fishery products,” he stated.

Signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in September 2024, the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act treats smuggling and hoarding of agricultural food products as economic sabotage when the value of goods exceeds P10 million, which later went down to P3 million only.

Creating cartels and financing smugglers and hoarders will also be considered economic sabotage.

Aside from a fine that is five times the value of smuggled or hoarded agricultural or fishery products, violators face life imprisonment if proven guilty.

Agricultural products covered by the law are rice, corn, beef, and other ruminants, pork, poultry, garlic, onions, carrots, other vegetables, fruit, fish, salt, and other aquatic products in their raw state.

An Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council will also be established to oversee the proper implementation of the law, a statute that does not have its own implementing rules and regulations (IRR), “as the law is the IRR,” as mentioned before by the law’s principal sponsor, Senator Cynthia Villar.