Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 19) – Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Tuesday that they are probing their ranks on possible collusion with traders over rampant smuggling.
“Maraming kuntsabahan ‘yan. Meron kaming iniimbestigahan, even our men and women sa department, Bureau of Animal Industry nagkukuntsabahan yan so nakakalusot,” Dar told the media.
[There is a lot of collusion there. We are investigating our own men and women in the department, [in the] Bureau of Animal Industry, they are in collusion [with traders] so [smuggled items] slip past authorities.]
The agriculture chief said one such illegal practice is misdeclaration of imported items. He noted that some of the seized items this year were banned pork and pork products from China which were declared as tomato paste and vermicelli.
He also said that produce such as fishery items and rice with fake clearance or even without import clearance slip past authorities. Dar said the agency is working with the Bureau of Customs and other authorities to resolve the hoarding of the 250,000 sacks of rice and other agricultural commodities in a warehouse in Bulacan.
“Marami rin kami nasabi na dumating nanditong bigas na walang import clearance, meron din sa fishery products na walang import clearance. Andaming walang import clearance nirerecycle po,” Dar said, referring to information gathered by his agency and shared with investigators.
[Translation: We have [shared intelligence report] that there are imported rice and fishery products without import clearances. A lot of import clearances are being recycled.]
Dar said the smuggled rice is not included in the 2.9 million metric tons of imported rice customs recorded from January to October 30 of this year. He noted earlier that there is an oversupply of the staple in light of the Rice Tariffication Act, which allows unlimited rice imports subject to tariffs. The law has also been blamed for pushing the average farmgate prices of unmilled rice down, causing farmers to suffer.
Carolyn Bonquin contributed to this report
