DA vows to intensify war vs smugglers

MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the Department of Agriculture would intensify its efforts to weed out corruption from the agency, emphasizing that they would file administrative charges against DA officials involved in the smuggling of agricultural products.

“We strongly condemn smuggling, which deprives our farmers and fishers of their incomes and livelihood,” Dar said in a statement.

“Smuggling is a systemic problem. That’s why we have been consistent in warning any official or staff of our ‘OneDA Family’ who coddles smugglers. We will not hesitate to file administrative charges against them. We will act swiftly and decisively against those involved among our ranks, whether rank-and-file employees or high-ranking officials,” he said.

Dar said the DA has been and is continuously working closely with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and other partner agencies in the Sub-Task Group on Economic Intelligence (STG-EI) in guarding and strengthening border protection efforts while at the same time providing the much-needed logistics and infrastructure support for local producers.

“Admittedly, there’s a need for us to further strengthen our integrated regulatory enforcement unit such as the STG-EI and the country’s first border protection,” Dar said.

“While we continue to be vigilant against illegal activities and smuggling of agri-fishery products, these efforts will remain palliative if our border controls remain flimsy,” he said.

Local farmers continue to be impacted by the smuggling of agri-fishery products into the country. In particular, vegetable farmers from Benguet said they have been seeing a decline in the orders for their carrots amid the influx of smuggled carrots from China, saying they are losing an estimated P2.5 million a day.

Meanwhile, Dar also called on lawmakers to provide budgetary support that would allow the BOC and DA to transition to a centralized digital system to fight smuggling.

“A centralized digital system, which we have been advocating as one of the pillars of our ‘OneDA’ Reform Agenda, would address discrepancies in data,” Dar said.

“If everything is automated, and there’s less human intervention, there is transparency at all levels of transactions,” he said.