JV

Solon cites need to go after ‘big-time’ smugglers

January 16, 2023 PS Jun M. Sarmiento 272 views

SENATOR Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Monday, January 16, slammed agriculture and customs officials for focusing on punishing ordinary Filipinos and failing to arrest “big-time” smugglers as the country grapples with soaring prices among agricultural goods.

During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, Ejercito said the amount of undocumented onions and fruits recently confiscated from ten crew members of the leading airline company in the country is nothing compared to the number of agricultural goods being smuggled into the country by “major cartels.”

“Yung (airline) crew, nagdadala ‘yan ng pasalubong for personal consumption. Dati, mansanas, ubas, pabango, sapatos. Ngayon, sibuyas na ang kanilang pinapasalubong sa kanilang mga pamilya.

So, this is already a cause of alert,” he said.

“Two kilograms, one kilogram, with a value of one hundred dollars to one fifty dollars. Pero milyun-milyon yung nakakalusot sa smuggling. Ito papatulan natin, pero yung mga big-time na cartel, smuggler, protektor, nakakalusot?” he added.

Customs authorities recently issued a memorandum stating that more than 11 kilos of onions and around six kilos of onions of lemon with a combined value of $100 were confiscated from airline crew members from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The said crew members will be charged with violating the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and the Plant Quarantine Decree of 1978.

The lawmaker from San Juan also lamented the failure of agriculture and customs officials to fully implement the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law, which he principally authored during his first term in the Senate.

“As authors, hindi madali magpasa ng mga batas. The Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law was designed to protect our farmers, lahat. Sa bigas, asukal, sibuyas, bawang, lahat na po. Six years after its enactment, wala pa akong naririnig na big-time smuggler na napapakulong,” he Ejercito said.

“May pampabulag ba tayo? May pampalabo ng mata? Ano ba ang nangyayari sa’tin?” he added.