Lawmakers seek higher penalties for agricultural smuggling
Credit to Author: Sheila Crisostomo| Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — In view of rampant smuggling of agricultural products into the country, two administration lawmakers are seeking stiffer penalties for the crime.
House Bill 8445, authored by ACT-CIS partylist Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo and Quezon CIty Rep. Ralph Tulfo, seeks to amend the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The bill’s explanatory note stated that the existing law is intended to “protect farmers from unscrupulous traders and importers who, by their illegal importation of agricultural products, significantly affect the production, availability of supply and stabSility of prices and the food security of the country.”
But the proposed measure underscored that although “strict regulations are put in place, smuggling continues to be lucrative.”
It cited a raid conducted by the Bureau of Customs in March which yielded some P120 million worth of contraband livestock and seafood products from China, Brazil, Australia, the US and Russia.
“This representation believes that in order to keep smuggled products away from consumers and safeguard the livelihoods of those who go through the proper process of importing goods, there is a need to increase the penalty of large-scale agricultural smuggling,” the bill reads.
Under the measure, the lawmakers have proposed that the penalty for committing large-scale agricultural smuggling be modified “for the purpose of deterring potential smugglers and to protect our local agricultural sector.”
They sought that on top of the jail terms and fines being imposed on convicted violators under the existing law, they should also be made to pay an “interest at the prevailing legal rates.”
In an earlier hearing at the Senate, Rosendo So, chairman of farmers group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, reported that the government had lost almost P30 billion in taxes due to agricultural smuggling last year alone.