“Rice importation only breeds rice smuggling,” Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said in reaction to the recent case of rice smuggling in the country.

Some 200 containers of rice or around 100, 000 sacks of Thailand rice worth P250 million were intercepted by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Thursday, June 14, at the Manila International Container Port.

Estavillo said the smugglers may be taking advantage of the entry of the rice imported by the National Food Authority (NFA) from Vietnam and Thailand as it coincides with the scheduled arrival of the rice imports.

“The liberalization of agriculture under the framework of World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture (WTO-AoA) pushes our country’s dependence on rice importation. Experience tells us that rice importation permits sold to private traders were used to create an opportunity for illegally imported rice to enter the country,” Estavillo added.

The proposed rice tariffication would even worsen rice smuggling as the government welcomes any private trader who can afford to import rice, according to Estavillo.

The policy coupled with the failure of the government to hold rice smugglers accountable for their crime make the country more vulnerable to smuggling, she said.

“Despite promises of ending corruption and smuggling, both remain as threats to the local rice industry. It does not only rob the country from tariff collections, it destroys the livelihood of rice farmers as well as local millers and small traders,” Estavillo said.

Bantay Bigas said that the government should prioritize the development of the local rice industry to put an end to smuggling.

“It must first and foremost implement genuine agrarian reform through free land distribution; veer away from liberalization of agriculture by pulling the country out of WTO and other unfair trade agreements; provide subsidies, post-harvest and marketing support to farmers, provide free irrigation, and stop rampant land use conversion,” Estavillo said.