AGES is a critical step in cutting off the funding streams that power organized crimes …
Smuggling, or the illegal transportation of commodities, has punished consumers and society in general.
It deprives the government of its rightful revenue collections and leads, in the case of tobacco smuggling, to the funding of other global criminal syndicates.
The signing of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act (AGES), or Republic Act (RA) 12022, into a law in late September by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will hopefully curb, if not eliminate, the smuggling of agricultural products, inlcuding tobacco, into the porous borders of the Philippines.
The new law imposes stiffer penalties against smugglers and hoarders of agricultural food products, including cartels.
It penalizes violators with higher fines and long jail terms and should instill fear in the minds of smugglers and hoarders, and force them to mend their ways, in the words of Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr.
AGES treats smuggling and the hoarding of agricultural food products as economic sabotage when the value of goods exceed P10 million.
The law also elevated tobacco smuggling to the level of economic sabotage, effectively recognizing the grave national harm it causes. The severe penalties seek to dismantle syndicates, including terrorist networks that feed on the illegal trade.
The illicit tobacco trade has forced law enforcement agencies to stretch their already limited resources. Combating smuggling diverts attention and funding from other critical issues, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, which are often linked to the same criminal networks. The new law will help reallocate resources by making it harder for these criminal groups to operate.
Many are not aware that the money spent on illegal tobacco often finds its way into the hands of criminal organizations and terrorist groups. Most consumers do not realize that their purchase of cheaper and smuggled tobacco directly contributes to the funding of these organized crime.
These profits fund not only smuggling operations but also other illicit activities, like drug trafficking, arms smuggling and corruption, making the fight against tobacco smuggling a fight against global organized crime.
Smuggling syndicates often operate across borders, using profits from illegal tobacco to support operations in other sectors, like human trafficking and weapons smuggling.
Japan Tobacco International, (JTI) a global tobacco company, is a staunch supporter of the law. JTI general manager John Freda said the AGES law would send a strong message to smugglers and their accomplices of the government’s serious commitment to address the worsening problem of illicit trade in tobacco.
“Now a law and once ready for full implementation by the mandated agencies, the government will have an additional potent weapon in its arsenal to wage war against smuggling syndicates,” Freda said.
“We are looking forward to its full implementation. The crime of tobacco smuggling is indeed an act of economic sabotage because, put simply, it robs the nation’s coffers. Not only does it deprive government of much needed tax revenues but illegal trade cheats everyone: society, consumers and legitimate businesses,” he adds.
Freda considers cigarette smuggling a complex problem and not the victimless crime it is perceived to be. It impacts a raft of industries, sectors, agencies and livelihoods—from agriculture, tobacco farmers, tobacco-growing local government units, retailers and consumers, to law enforcement units and revenue collection agencies.
Proceeds from illegal tobacco sales, according to Freda, often finance much larger criminal activities such as corruption, the smuggling of drugs and weapons, human trafficking and terrorism.
Consumers, thus, must recognize that purchasing illicit products fuels criminal activities that harm the nation.
AGES is a critical step in cutting off the funding streams that power organized crimes and terrorism. It strengthens the government’s ability to collaborate with international law enforcement agencies, ensuring cross-border crimes become more difficult to execute.
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