MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said Wednesday that he was taken aback after finding out that no agricultural smuggler has been sent to prison despite numerous arrests since 2016.
In a statement shared with reporters, Sotto, who presides over the Committee of the Whole (COW) hearings on agricultural smuggling incidents, said he was "dismayed" with the government's zero conviction rate.
Related Stories
"There is not even one [smuggler] imprisoned? It’s almost six years that law enforcers have arrested hundreds of suspected smugglers. This means that many have slipped away," he said in Filipino.
Sotto chaired the third hearing on agricultural smuggling and the proliferation of vegetables from China in the local market on Wednesday.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Charlie Guhit of the National Prosecution Service said only four people faced criminal cases related to agricultural smuggling, one of which was dismissed due to lack of evidence.
"With respect to the four important cases, some of which are still pending investigation and for arraignment, so right now, it's early to say that they will not be imprisoned because we have to wait for prosecution of the case to be over and holding of the court. Based on our data right now, no accused is incarcerated," Guhit said during the hearing.
He said this in response to Sotto's question on whether the government has convicted anyone for large-scale agricultural smuggling since 2016.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, Sen. Cynthia Villar, who chairs the Senate agriculture, food and agarian reform committee, urged the government to strictly implement the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, and reiterated her call to file charges against those involved in the illegal trade of agricultural goods.
Data from the Bureau of Customs showed that it filed a total of 103 cases related to agricultural smuggling from 2016 to March 2022. The goods involved in these cases had a total value of P1.35 billion, including duties and taxes.
In a previous hearing, a group of Benguet-based farmers complained that they are now losing P2.5 million daily from smuggled carrots.
"Starting last year, the decline of our orders coming from the different key markets declined... Last year, it was only 20%, but this year, because the volume of the smuggled carrots doubled," Agot Balanoy, the public relations officer of the League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Areas, said in a COW hearing held March 28.
"So the monetary value of this percentage at an average is equivalent to P2.5 million per day, which is a loss on the part of the farmers," she added.
NICA identifies over 20 possible smugglers
The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency said that it has identified more than 20 possible "smugglers and players" who have reportedly received protection from the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Customs.
"As to the list of players [and] smugglers that are allegedly enjoying protection from the DA and BOC officials, we do have a list," NICA Director Edsel Batalla said during the hearing. He did not provide the full list of individuals, and said the list still has to undergo validation.
"The validation process is quite tedious because we have to check our own database. If we do not have records in our database, we have to check in the community then do some investigations on the ground level," he said.
When asked by Sotto how many people were in the list, Batalla answered: "More than 20, Mr. President, including the protectors."
Heated exchange
At the start of the hearing, Sotto and Villar had heated words over having Rep. Eric Yap (ACT-CIS party-list) at the hearing.
Yap, who is caretaker lawmaker for Benguet and is running to represent it at the House, was brought up in a previous hearing by a group of vegetable farmers and traders who complained about the alleged inaction of local officials in addressing smuggling.
Villar said Yap reportedly told her that the Committee of the Whole did not want to invite him to the hearing Tuesday. Sotto then said he didn't know that congressman wanted to be invited.
"I didn't mind that you formed the Committee of the Whole and bypassed me, but you know, if somebody calls me and he wants to be invited, I will tell you because, after all, I'm the chairman of the committee on agriculture," Villar said.
Sotto said he took exception to her statement, and said that he did not "bypass anyone."
Yap, who later attended the hearing, apologized for the miscommunication that may have occured. He clarified that he did not say that the Committee of the Whole did not invite him to the hearing.