Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. does not take kindly to commodities smugglers and made known his plan to blacklist at least four commodities importers for acts that fall under economic sabotage.
Secretary Tiu Laurel said this relates to one rice importer, two from the fisheries sector and one other sugar importer who should be banished from the industry.
“In the next few months I will blacklist a lot of companies. I know what they are doing and we are just getting proof because (what they are doing is) economic sabotage.”
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.
“Smugglers are destroying the industry by undercutting everybody because of their illegal acts,” Tiu Laurel told reporters late on Wednesday.
The Department of Agriculture recently blacklisted a rice importer found to have been under-declaring the volume of goods passing through the port of Batangas by exploiting a loophole that the agency has since successfully plugged.
This relates to the practice of unloading only a portion, say, 20 percent of the total shipment at the port of entry. Prior to its discovery, customs officers erroneously assumed the rest of the shipment would be unloaded in other ports but were not.
“When we caught them unloading more than the declared 20 percent, they suddenly showed additional sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance, already prepared beforehand. So, we couldn’t stop them from unloading (although) they now have to pay the 100 percent tax,” Tiu Laurel said.
To prevent future smuggling of this nature, Secretary Tiu Laurel requires shippers 24 hours from departure at ports of origin to declare by email to the Bureau of Customs all the valid SPSIC they need to clear their shipment at arrival.
In February, the DA organized a technical working group (TWG) to assist lawmakers in amending the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 and further protect the economy from the illicit trade of agricultural produce.
The TWG was tasked to craft the official DA position and inputs for consideration by lawmakers.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed the Anti Agri-Fishery Commodities and Tobacco Economic Sabotage Act in September last year. The Senate also approved a similar proposal voting 18-0 for the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act the previous December.
The measure is up for a bicameral conference committee discussion prior to its signing into law by the President.
