The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) on Wednesday called for the re-introduction of a pre-shipment and discharge port inspection system managed by the private sector to stop large-scale agricultural smuggling, prevent price manipulation and ensure the safety of food imports.
The group also cited the need for a law or a presidential executive order creating within the Department of Agriculture (DA) an inspectorate and enforcement service authorized to prosecute suspected violators of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 and the Food Safety Act of 2013.
Leonardo Montemayor, FFF chairman, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself recently floated the idea of hiring a global pre-shipment inspection services provider like the Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS).
SGS has in fact provided such services to the government until 2000 when these functions were reverted to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) instead.
“Since then, smuggling of farm and fisheries products has grown by leaps and bounds. This has caused tremendous financial losses to government and the agricultural sector and has compromised the health and safety of consumers,” Montemayor lamented.
He stressed that a reputable pre-shipment inspection company “can be very helpful in addressing the persistent undervaluation and misdeclaration of agricultural imports” that results to billions of pesos worth of lost collection.
The FFF also proposed that the President or the Secretary of Finance immediately amend the implementing rules and regulations of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, so that the DA, in coordination with the BOC and other concerned agencies, can file complaints against suspected agricultural smugglers in court.
Montemayor noted that despite the limited funding, manpower and legal ambiguities on the powers of the DA, the newly created anti-smuggling unit managed to seize P2.2 billion worth of agri-fishery products and filed 49 cases against suspected smugglers of refined sugar, onions, pork, beef, fish and carrots.
Against this background, the DA issued a special order (SO) creating a task force on animal health seeking the prevention and control of emerging transboundary diseases.
Under SO 729 signed by senior nudersecretary Domingo Panganiban, the task force is directed to work with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and harmonize national and local government guidelines on the prevention and control of animal transboundary diseases.
The order also mandates the coordination with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Trade and Industry, Philippine National Police and the DILG on the formation of inter-agency task force on animal health for detection, monitoring, surveillance, prevention and control of animal transboundary diseases.
The task force is chaired by Paz Benavidez II, DA assistant secretary for regulations and co-chaired by Elias Jose Inciong, president of the United Broiler Raiser’s Association (UBRA).
Members also include Noel Padre, DA assistant secretary for policy research and development; Arnel De Mesa, DA assistant secretary for operations; Kristine Evangelista, DA assistant secretary for consumer affairs; Paul Limson, Bureau of Animal Industry director; Gregorio San Diego, UBRA and Egg Board Association chairman; Chester Warren Tan, National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. president; Rolando Tambago, Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines president; and the president of the Provincial, City and Municipal Veterinarians’ League of the Philippines.
