Agri agencies, BOC turning a blind eye on worsening agri smuggling, says JV Ejercito
September 05, 2022
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Monday
took a swipe at the Department of Agriculture (DA), Sugar Regulatory
Administration (SRA), and Bureau of Customs (BOC) for ignoring the worsening
situation of agricultural smuggling in the country.
In a press conference, Ejercito slammed
officials from these agencies for failing to fully implement the
Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, which he principally authored.
“Now that this issue has become really
important, siguro, it’s really about time that we look into these SRA
officials, DA officials, BOC officials, doon sa mga talagang nagkulang. Di nga
lang nagkulang, mukhang nagbulag-bulagan,” he said.
“Sabi ko nga, mas magastos, mas mahal yung
pampabulag. Mukhang tumitingin sila sa kabila. Alam naman natin na nangyayari,
di ba?” he added.
The lawmaker from San Juan hinted on the
possibility of filing charges against negligent agriculture officials,
especially those who turned a blind eye on agricultural smuggling in the past
six years.
“Unang-una, that’s their responsibility: to
really stop smuggling and protect our farmers and the industry itself. So, doon
palang, palagay ko, they are remiss. Probably, we can already study the filing
of charges against these officials who were remiss in their duties. Kumbaga,
pinabayaan nila in the past six years,” Ejercito said.
“Hindi naman siguro magkakaganito kalala ang
problema ng ating agricultural industry had they done their jobs, kung talagang
ginawa nila ang task nila,” he added.
Had the BOC been more active in detecting and
apprehending agricultural smugglers, Ejercito said the country’s current woes
with its sugar supply would have been avoided.
The agency’s recent raids on warehouses
containing hoarded sugar prove that the alleged sugar shortage in the country
was engineered by agricultural hoarders, he explained.
“Ang sabi, may shortage. Pero mukhang
artificial shortage, because the warehouses, nakita naman natin, noong biglang
nagraid ang Customs, bigla silang nagising (na) ang dami-dami palang supply ng
sugar,” he said.
“Probably, they are hoarding. Yung mga traders
are hoarding these products intentionally para tumaas ang presyo,” he added.
On the part of the Senate, Ejercito said he
will urge his colleagues to strengthen the Upper Chamber’s oversight on the
implementation of the country’s agricultural laws.
“I’m hoping that our oversight function will
be established. Dapat (itong) irevive. Dapat maging active, para mabantayan ang
mga batas na ito in line with the President’s direction or directive na dapat
magkaroon ng food sufficiency,” he said.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is expected
to conduct its third hearing on the recent sugar importation fiasco on Tuesday.
