THE National Food Authority (NFA) said counterfeit rice import permits (IPs) may be circulating after the agency received reports of unauthorized parties offering them for sale.

NFA administrator Jason L. Y. Aquino said in a statement that the government will apply the full force of the law in prosecuting counterfeiters and those who use their products.

The Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) notified the NFA on Dec. 22 that it was seeking to verify three IPs allegedly issued to PITC, which aroused suspicions because “PITC has not applied for any rice import permits with NFA and neither authorized any party to apply for and in behalf of PITC for such permits for 2017.”

The IPs involve a 5,000 metric ton (MT) shipment for discharge in Davao, a 7,000-MT shipment for discharge in Cebu, and a 30,000 MT shipment with no specified port of discharge. The documents were dated Aug. 24 in the case of the Davao and Cebu shipments. The third shipment was dated Oct. 10.

The NFA confirmed it did not issue any of the above IPs under the 2017 MAV Rice Importation Program. The agency also clarified that the scheduled arrival of rice imports under Phase 1 of the 2017 MAV was set for between Dec. 20, 2017 and Feb. 28, 2018. Phase 2 imports are to arrive between June 1 and Aug. 31.

“Also… the Import Permit under the 2017 MAV Rice Importation Program has a validity period of only 15 calendar days from the date of issuance and not for one year as specified in the spurious IPs,” the NFA said.

The NFA invoked Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, which holds violators liable for prosecution as economic saboteurs.

Section 3 covers large-scale agricultural smuggling, which includes “rice, with a minimum amount of ten million pesos (P10,000,000.00), as valued by the Bureau of Customs, committed through any of the following acts: (a) Importing or bringing into the Philippines without the required import permit from the regulatory agencies; (b) Using import permits of persons, natural or juridical, other than those specifically named in the permit; and (c) Using fake, fictitious or fraudulent import permits or shipping documents.”

RA 10845 specifies the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of twice the value of the smuggled agricultural product in addition to payment of taxes, duties and other charges against anyone found guilty of economic sabotage.

CAMBODIAN fisherman Sles Hiet lives at the mercy of the Mekong: a massive river that feeds tens of millions but is under threat from the Chinese dams cementing Beijing’s physical — and diplomatic — control over its Southeast Asian neighbors.

The 32-year-old, whose ethnic Cham Muslim community live on rickety house boats that bob along a river bend in Kandal province, says the size of his daily catch has been shrinking by the year.

“We don’t know why there are less fish now,” he told AFP of a mystery that has mired many deeper into poverty.

It is a lament heard from villages along a river that snakes from the Tibetan plateau through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. 

Nearly 4,800 km. (2,982 miles) long, the Mekong is the world’s largest inland fishery and second only to the Amazon for its biodiversity.

It helps feed around 60 million people across its river basin.

Yet control over its taps rests to the north with China, whose premier Li Keqiang will land in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to lead a new regional summit that could shape the river’s future.

Beijing has already studded the Mekong’s upper reaches with six dams and is investing in more than half of the 11 dams planned further south, according to International Rivers.

Environmental groups warn the blockages pose a grave threat to fish habitats by disrupting migrations and the flow of key nutrients and sediment — not to mention displacing tens of thousands of people with flooding.

Communities in the lower Mekong countries have reported depleted fish stocks in recent years and are blaming the dams.

Experts say it is too early to draw full conclusions given a lack of baseline data and the complex nature of the river’s ecosystem.

But what they do agree on is that China has the upper hand over a resource that serves as the economic lifeblood of its poor southern backyard.

The lower Mekong countries are “not able to stand up to China geopolitically,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a foreign policy expert at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

That allows Beijing to keep “undermining habitats and millions of livelihoods downstream.”

With control over the headwaters of the river — known there as the Lancang — Beijing can dam its section of the river while the impacts are felt downstream.

It can also modulate water levels, a powerful bargaining chip displayed in 2016 when China opened dam gates on its soil to help Vietnam mitigate a severe drought.

The regional superpower is now asserting its authority through the nascent Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum, while appeasing its Southeast Asian neighbors with investment and soft loans.

Leaders from all six Mekong countries will attend the LMC this week in Cambodia.

China’s foreign ministry bills the forum, which also covers security and trade issues, as a way to foster “economic prosperity, social progress and a beautiful environment.”

But environmentalists say the LMC aims to replace the long-standing Mekong River Commission — a regional body that has tried to manage development along the river — albeit without China.

“There is major concern that China’s leading role and relative influence will see it prioritizing its own interests over meaningful cooperation,” warned Maureen Harris, Southeast Asia program director at International Rivers.

Chinese companies are investing billions of dollars in many of the dams but have so far failed to carry out full environmental and social impact assessments.

Firms and state agencies from Thailand, Vietnam and Laos also stand to gain from their investments in the hydropower projects.

“Much of the benefit will be reaped by the financial and business interests involved, with impacts to hit hardest local communities along the river,” Harris said.

Calls to protect the river have largely gone unheeded in Southeast Asia, where governments are eager to meet energy needs and unwilling to stand up to China or resist its cash.

That makes the Mekong’s dependents, such as fisherman Sles Hiet, an afterthought.

“We depend on the Mekong river,” he said.

“Even though there are less fish we are still trying because we don’t have any other jobs and we have no land to farm.” — AFP