Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan formally opened on Monday, 1 September, a Senate investigation into rampant agricultural smuggling in the country as he hit unscrupulous rice traders and smugglers.
Leading the second public hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform jointly with the Committees on Ways and Means and Finance, Pangilinan is seeking to hold smugglers and profiteers accountable.
Pangilinan, who chairs the Committee on Agriculture, lamented the similarities between anomalous flood control projects and the country’s long-standing problems with agricultural smuggling.
"There are many similarities between the recurring floods here in Metro Manila and the food crisis. Apart from being rooted in corruption and injustice, the floods and the flood crisis are causing great hardship to the average Filipino," he said.
"Ordinary Filipinos who only ask for safe streets, fair prices, and affordable food on the table," he added.
The senator decried that if the proliferation of price manipulation, hoarding, profiteering, and unfair practices does not come to an end, Filipinos will continue to suffer from the high prices of food, and farmers will remain one of the country’s most impoverished sectors.
"When smugglers flood our markets with cheap, untaxed, and unfit for consumption goods, they are not only destroying the livelihood of farmers, they are also sabotaging our national security," Pangilinan stressed.
"They are draining government coffers and further eroding the public's trust in the government," he added.
Citing government records, Pangilinan said there was an attempt to bring in P143 million worth of agricultural products through the Port of Subic this year alone.
In July, 10 containers declared to contain processed foods were instead found to have carrots, white onions, and frozen mackerel worth around P100 million — well above the P10-million threshold of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which makes the offense non-bailable.
Those found guilty will also face the full extent of the law: life imprisonment and penalties up to five times the amount of the smuggled goods.
"The law is harsh on agricultural smugglers because the law recognizes that sabotaging our food supply is not a simple distortion of the law," he explained.
"There is a recognition that sabotaging our food supply is a crime that hits you in the stomach," he added.
Yet Pangilinan raised concerns that the actual reported amount of these smuggling attempts is being low-balled to protect smuggling organizations.
He assured that the hearing will push for the full implementation of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Law.