THE House of Representatives has approved on second reading a bill that seeks to declare large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage.
House Bill 6380, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, provides higher sanctions for large-scale smuggling of agricultural products to ensure food security and prices stability as well as to protect the income and well-being of Filipino farmers, said Marikina City Representative Miro Quimbo, committee on ways and means chair, said.
Quimbo, a co-author of the bill, said it is a policy of the State to promote the productivity of the agriculture sector and to protect farmers from unscrupulous traders and importers who, by their illegal importation of agricultural products, especially rice, significantly affect the production, availability of supply and stability of prices and the food security of state.
He added the State shall impose higher sanctions on large scale-smuggling of agricultural products, as a measure to shield the agricultural sector from the manipulation of economic saboteurs, and to protect the livelihood of farmers and to ensure their economic well-being.
Under the measure, the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of twice the fair value of the smuggled product in the kind and value described in the Act will be imposed and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other chargers legally due on the said smuggled agricultural product shall be imposed on any person who commits any of the acts enumerated under the bill.
The bill also provides the penalty of imprisonment of not less than 17 years but not more than 20 years, and a fine of twice the fair value of the smuggled agricultural product in the kind and value describe in the proposed law and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other charges legally due on the said smuggled agricultural products shall be imposed on the officers of dummy corporations, nongovernment organizations, associations, cooperatives, or single proprietorships who knowingly sell, lend, lease, assign, consent or allow the unauthorized use of their import permits for purposes of smuggling.
Under the bill economic sabotage refers to any act or activity which undermines, weakens or renders into disrepute the economic system or viability of the country or tends to bring out such effects and shall include, among others, price manipulation to the prejudice of the public especially in the sale of basic necessities and prime commodities,
The agricultural products, meanwhile, refers to any agricultural commodity or product, whether plant based, animal based, raw or processed, including any commodity or product derived from livestock that is available for human or livestock consumption. This definition includes fish, forestry, seeds, poultry and dairy products that have undergone various degrees of processing.
The bill said the crime of large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage, involving sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables, in its raw state, or which have undergone the simple processes of preparation or preservation for the market valued at a minimum amount of P10 million, as determined by the Bureau of Customs.
The committed acts include importing or bringing into the Philippines without the required import permit from the regulatory agencies; using imports permits of persons, natural, juridical or entities without juridical personality other than those specifically named in the permit; and using fake, fictitious or fraudulent import permits or shipping documents, names of natural or juridical persons or entities without juridical personality, and addresses of consignee.
Also included in the prohibited acts are the selling, lending, leasing, assigning, consenting or allowing the use of import permits of corporations, non-government organizations, associations, cooperatives, or single proprietorships by other persons; misclassification, undervaluation or misdeclaration upon the filing of import entry and revenue declaration with the BOC in order to evade the payment of rightful taxes and duties to the government; and organizing or using dummy corporations, nongovernment organizations, associations, cooperatives, or single proprietorships for the purpose of acquiring import permits.
Transporting or storing the agricultural product subject to economic sabotage regardless of quantity and cting as broker of the violating importer is also prohibited under the proposal.
In all cases, the measure said the smuggled agricultural products shall be confiscated and the property used in agricultural smuggling, consistent with Section 2530 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines of 1987, as amended, and without prejudice to Section 2531 of the same Code, shall be forfeited in favor of the government.
“When the offender is a juridical person, criminal liability shall attach to its president, chief operating officers, or manager who consents to or knowingly tolerates the commission of the prohibited crime," the bill said.
“Any person, natural or juridical, found guilty under this act shall also suffer the penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification to engage in any business involving importation,” it added.
In applying the above mentioned penalties, the measure said if the offender is an alien and the prescribed penalty is not life imprisonment, the offender shall be deported after serving the sentence without further proceedings for deportation.
If the offender is a government official or employee, the penalty shall be the maximum as hereinabove prescribed and the offender shall suffer an additional penalty of perpetual disqualification form public office, to vote and to participate in any public election, the bill added.
Citing a report of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, Quimbo said that from 2013 to 2014, the government incurred a total of P64 billion foregone revenue due to the widespread smuggling of agricultural products.
“This amount represents a P32 billion loss per year, which could have been used for the construction of approximately 21,000 classrooms, or 2,600 health centers. In fact, the amount of loss reported for these two years is more than enough to cover the budget of the Department of Agriculture for 2016, and with an excess sufficient to help rehabilitate our agricultural sector,” Quimbo said.
The lawmaker said that for the past two decades, the average share of agricultural employment to the total labor force is one-third or 36 percent, and yet these agricultural workers receive the lowest average daily basic wage and salary compared to those in non-agriculture industries.
“This is appalling considering the agriculture industry is a significant driver of our country towards food security. This condition is aggravated by the occurrence of agricultural smuggling in that it takes away what little income that workers in the agricultural sector may have, as they have to compete with the prices that the agricultural smugglers offer to the market, thereby hampering this sector’s growth and sustainability,” Quimbo said.
With the adverse effects of agricultural smuggling to the government budget, food security, poverty alleviation, and its connection to all other national concerns, Quimbo said there is a need to strengthen laws to deter its commission. (Sunnex)