Senate agriculture committee chairperson Sen. Cynthia A. Villar on Tuesday said that the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act will be implemented effectively if there is a court dedicated to handle smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and cartel of agricultural products.
In yesterday’s Senate Justice public hearing on the proposed Senate Bill No. 1963 which seeks to establish Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Courts, Villar stressed that even with the existence of law against agricultural smuggling, there have been no smugglers charged with
economic sabotage.
“We intend to create an anti-agricultural smuggling court to ensure that the proper implementation of the law will be made,” Villar told the committee chaired by Sen. Francis Tolentino.
“We hope that those involved in the courts and the justice department will help us draft a law to implement the Anti-Agriculture Smuggling Act,” she added.
In 2016, Congress passed RA 10817 or the Agri- Smuggling Act” authored by Villar.
“The cut of amount to be declared as economic sabotage and non-bailable if P10 million for rice and P1 millio for other agri-products,” she said.
While there were several smuggling of more than cut off amount, she lamented no smugglers were charged with economic sabotage.
Villar also said in the recent crisis involving overpriced onions, the production cost of onion is at maximum of P25 per kilo and yet onions are being sold at P600 to P700 per kilo. “There is really hoarding, price manipulation and cartel,” she said.
Villar said they are amending the Anti- smuggling Act to give more teeth to it and to include hoarding,price manipulation and cartel as economic sabotage and non-bailable.
She also said they intend to create an Anti-Smuggling Court to ensure the proper implementation of the law.
Tolentino said Villar’s bill will address the seemingly uncontrollable spike of prices brought about by the “smuggling” of agricultural products.
Despite the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, Tolentino said smuggling of agricultural products continue to proliferate in the Philippines.
He said the proposed Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court will try cases involving smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products and will ensure that individuals and organizations involved in these activities are held accountable for their actions.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asked Tolentnio’s committee to review the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
In the same hearing, he proposed to to look closely and review said law to determine how a simple law was made difficult to enforce because of a faulty IRR.
“Maybe we can add a specific crime to the law like ‘refusal to prosecute large scale agricultural smuggling’ which will make liable the legal department (of the Bureau of Customs) and even the Department of Justice prosecutors, depending on the evidence,” Pimentel said.
“This is similar to obstruction of justice but very specific. In my opinion, this will be additional teeth to the law,” he added.
Pimentel also wanted to amend section 3 of RA 10845 by rewriting the phrase “as valued by the Bureau of Customs” and involve the Department of Agriculture in valuating smuggled agricultural products in order to put flexibility to the law.