EXPRESSING dismay during Senate debates, Senator Cynthia A. Villar revealed on Wednesday that the fight against agricultural smuggling has seen five out of the 15 cases filed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) already junked by the courts.
Citing how these dismissals underscore a significant challenge in prosecuting such illicit activities, Ms. Villar pushed for non-bailable charges against smugglers of agricultural produce to enhance legal accountability.
She raised the issue alongside news that authorities arrested a long suspected large-scale smuggler of onions.
The senator said that the DA is “trying to file a case” against the head of a group of companies that the House agriculture and food committee in May said was involved in the whole onion value chain for the price manipulation of the commodity, causing it to hit P700 per kilogram last year.
“They are investigating together with the PCC (Philippine Competition Commission),” she said.
The House of Representatives in September passed House Bill No. 9284, which seeks to raise penalties against smuggling of agricultural commodities. The Senate has yet to approve its version of the measure.
Newly appointed Agriculture Secretary Francisco T. Laurel, Jr. told senators that under his leadership, the DA will prioritize modernizing the agriculture sector to lessen the country’s dependence on importation.
“Our plans for the Department of Agriculture is basically the marching orders of our president, which is to increase production…through the use of technology, modernization and improve logistics to lower cost of all the products that we produce in this country,” Mr. Laurel told the plenary. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
