SENATOR Joseph Victor Ejercito called Tuesday for the swift passage of the anti-smuggling bill, saying it will help save the country's struggling agricultural sector.
Ejercito made the call following the recurrence of sugar smuggling at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Earlier reports said former Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres allegedly tried to get at least 64 shipping containers of smuggled Thai sugar worth over P100 million out of the BOC.
"The bill's graver penalties would serve as deterrence for such negotiations at Customs," Ejercito, chairman of Senate economic affairs committee, said.
"Our agricultural sector is currently in a neglected state. I fear that if we do not immediately curb agricultural smuggling and classify it as economic sabotage, this would soon succumb to a crisis. Our economy continues to be crippled yearly by P200 billion due to agricultural smuggling alone," he added.
Ejercito said it is now the time for the government to support the livelihood of farmers and workers of the agricultural sector, which employs a third of the country's labor force.
Senate Bill 2923 or the proposed Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act is now placed on second reading in the Senate.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara meanwhile urged his colleagues to pass the proposed Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), which would to simplify, modernize and align the country's Customs procedure with global practices.
The CMTA aims to amend and update the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, in compliance with the Revised Kyoto Convention, a blueprint for modern and efficient customs procedures of the World Customs Organization, to which the Philippines is a signatory since 2010.
The measure, which has gained support from the Joint Foreign Chambers, simplifies and clarifies customs procedures, including import clearances and valuations, making the release of goods much faster, regardless of whether you are an individual entrepreneur or a large multinational.
It also mandates the use of information and communications technology and other appropriate applications that speed up the inner-workings of Customs, but also make it more transparent.
"We aim to ingrain transparency and accountability into the BOC. For instance, district officers and front-liner employees will be prevented from holding the same position in the same district for more than three years. Higher penalties and punishments will also be prescribed as a further deterrent to smuggling," Angara said.
Citing a 2014 study by the Global Financial Integrity, Angara said the government lost approximately $277 billion in revenues due to technical smuggling.
The bill clearly defines the exercise of customs police authority, customs jurisdiction, and customs control by specifying the functions of BOC when it comes to post entry audit and clarify the agency’s relations with the country’s free zones.
Once the enacted into law, the BOC’s revenue collection will improve by 10 percent.
The CMTA further seeks to raise the tax-exempt value of balikbayan boxes from P10,000 to P150,000 and the de minimis value, which is the minimum cost of goods required to undergo Customs inspection, from P10 to P10,000, and to adjust the values for inflation every three years.
"We want to overhaul and modernize the bureau, which has long been perceived as one of the most corrupt and underperforming government agencies in the country. The measure also reinforces BOC functions towards simplified, secured, and harmonized trade facilitation, apart from being a revenue-generating agency,” the senator said. (Sunnex)