Agricultural smuggling courts proposed

MANILA, Philippines — There is an urgent need for the country to establish special courts focusing on agricultural smuggling to speed up the prosecution of cases filed against smugglers, hoarders and cartels of vegetables, fish, meat, fruits, poultry and other produce, according to Sen. Cynthia Villar.

Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and food, recently filed Senate Bill 1963, which seeks to establish new courts amid criticisms from lawmakers and farmers’ groups that no suspected smuggler or trader has been convicted under Republic Act 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.

The law was enacted to protect local agricultural industry and farmers from agricultural smuggling, which is considered economic sabotage and punishable with life imprisonment, according to the senator, one of the authors of the measure.

She said the market price of onions last year started to increase “uncontrollably” and reached up to P750 per kilo during the Christmas season, prompting the committee to conduct an inquiry last January.

She added that the Senate panel found out that cartels overimport onions, thereby fixing the price of local onions with hoarders storing supplies in cold storage to create artificial shortage so that the price would go up — a clear scenario of price manipulation.

“Due to price manipulation, farmers suffered economic losses. Now, farmers are afraid to produce because they might not be able to get back their investments. With all the issues on smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products, it is baffling that no one is prosecuted,” Villar stated in her bill.

Citing a report from the Food and Fertilizer Center for the Asian and Pacific Region, the senator said that from 1986 to 2009, at least $1.96 billion worth of rice had been smuggled in the Philippines.

Next top products to be smuggled were refined sugar worth $448.2 million; onion, $259.6 million; pork, $117.5 million; chicken, $27.8 million; ginger, $7.8 million; and carrots and turnips, $6.5 million.

The funds that the government should have collected from these duties and taxes could have been used to fund agriculture programs for farmers to improve their productivity and income, public services and infrastructure projects, according to Villar.

To ensure that the economic sabotage cases under this law will be treated with the most preferential attention, she said the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court will be created.

“The main purpose of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court is to try cases involving smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products, and to ensure that individuals and organizations involved in these activities are held accountable for their actions,” Villar said.

This includes imposing penalties, fines and other legal sanctions for those found guilty.

As per the agricultural industry, the court will also help prevent the further spread of smuggled agricultural products and protect the interests of local farmers.

Under the bill, the court will operate under the supervision of the Supreme Court. The proceedings of the court are subject to the rules and regulations that will be promulgated by the SC and are held in accordance with due process and the principles of fairness and justice.

“Overall, the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court and other courts play an important role in addressing the problem of smuggling in the agricultural sector and helping promote the sustainable development of the industry by ensuring that those who engage in illegal activities are held accountable for their actions,” Villar said.