For one the Department of Agriculture has to be commended for filing 20 cases of large scale smuggling against two companies that brought in assorted food products. But why just smuggling. File cases of economic sabotage against them.
It was gratifying to read in business blog site, Bilyonaryo, that the Department of Agriculture has filed 20 counts of large-scale smuggling against Victory JM Enterprise and Asterzenmed Inc. for illegally bringing in P398 million worth of food products into the country through Subic Bay International Terminal.
The DA said Victory JM Enterprises and Asterzenmed violated the Food Safety Act of 2013 and Republic Act No. 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
Under the law, large-scale agricultural smuggling refers to shipments worth at least P1 million for most food products or a minimum of P10 million for rice.
The DA, in cooperation with the Philippine Coast Guard, the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bureau of Animal Industry, and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) conducted a series of operations at the Subic Bay International Terminal Corp and found a total of 57 container vans allegedly containing smuggled agricultural products.
Of the 57, were consigned to Asterzenmed while 20 belonged to Victory JM Enterprise.
The container vans, which were shipped from Hong Kong, China and Poland, were found to contain red and white onions, mackerel, buffalo meat, round scad, pork meat, boneless beef, squid, roasted lamb, suckling pig and other frozen products.
According to the DA, the seized goods were either misdeclared, misclassified, and had no permit.
DA Assistant Secretary James Layug assured that additional charges would be filed against the two importers for endangering the public’s health and the livelihood of Filipino farmers and fisherfolk.
The DA must go after more smugglers—the bigger and more influential the better—so that people’s trust in this government can be restored.
Not only that, it is the duty of the DA to protect the interest of farmers and fishermen by going hard against smugglers, hoarders, price manipulators and those distorting the natural market forces.
It is bad enough that the default solution of DA to every perceived underproduction is always importation. But when you go to the countryside, you would find an abundance of fruits and vegetables, which are lacking (and being manipulated by a few greedy traders) in the National Capital Region.
Tags: #DA, #smuggling, #SubicTerminal, #agricuilturalproducts