THE House committee on ways and means will summon 10 individuals, including brokers, importers and facilitators who are allegedly involved in large-scale smuggling in the country after they were named yesterday by Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio Suansing Jr. during a hearing.
Suansing made the revelation in a hearing on his House Resolution No. 311 directing the committee to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the smuggling of basic commodities and tobacco.
The panel chaired by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda adopted Suansing’s motion to invite the 10 individuals as it looks into the smuggling of basic commodities, tobacco, and red onions, the price of which has soared to over P700 per kilo, which Salceda said is largely due to alleged hoarding by distributors to create an artificial shortage.
Suansing said he would request that the 10 be subpoenaed “in due time,” since a subpoena can issued only after a resource person snubs invitations to attend congressional investigations.
“In light of these reports, and in light of the innumerable reports on widespread, large-scale smuggling of agricultural commodities in the country, in due time, I… would like to request the committee on ways and means to issue subpoenas for the following brokers/importers/facilitators allegedly involved in large-scale agricultural smuggling in local ports in the Philippines,” Suansing told the panel.
Suansing then proceeded to announce the following names and moved that they be summoned to the next hearing: Michael Ma; Lujene Ang; Andrew Chang; Beverly Peres; Aaron; Manuel Tan; Leah Cruz; Jun Diamante; Lucio Lim; and Gerry Teves.
He also asked the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Agriculture to provide information on the following consignees: Victory JM Enterprises; Taculog International Consumer Goods Trading; Asterzenmed Aggregates; Veneta Consumer Goods Trading; Lalavy Aggregates Trading; Frankie Trading Enterprises; Primex Export – Import Producer; SB Express Logistics Business Solution; Silver Pop Dry Goods Trading; Thousand Sunny Enterprises; Viogelas Viol Aggregates Trading; Junezone Dry Goods Trading; and Burias Jang Consumer Goods Trading.
He also requested records and documents from the BOC on importer PilSHON Corporation, saying its cigarette products “are allegedly flooding Philippine local markets despite only being declared for transshipment to Malaysia.”
“In view of these requests, I will divulge in due time pertinent information on these individuals and personalities, which would make relevant these requests to the Committee and to the concerned government agencies,” Suansing said.
OVERSIGHT FUNCTIONS
Suansing said the entry of underdeclared or misdeclared agricultural products entering the country should prompt the committee to exercise Congress’ oversight functions.
He noted that in 2021 alone, figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that the total value of agricultural imports from all countries was $14 million while the United Nations trade statistics show that Chinese agricultural and fish exports to the Philippines alone, excluding fruits and nuts, reached $138 million.
“That is a $124-million gap in reported data from the Philippines and from the United Nations International Trade Statistics Database. In the interest of forging and building credibility and confidence on our government processes and institutions, I believe that it is incumbent upon this Chamber to exercise its oversight functions to scrutinize data reported by our own government agencies, to reconcile these data with those reported by international and multilateral organizations, and to recommend legislation and remedial measures, whenever necessary,” Suansing said.
Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing, Suansing’s daughter and panel senior vice chair, noted that the government has lost P693 million in revenues for this month alone due to the smuggling of basic commodities, including agricultural products.
She noted that tobacco smuggling alone is estimated to cost the government P24.7 to P26 billion annually, “with some estimates placing it as high as P60 billion as an estimated 13-14 percent of tobacco products sold in the country come from illegal sources.”
Similarly, she said, billions worth of smuggled rice enter the country, with the largest reported case being the unloading of P1 billion worth of smuggled rice which arrived in Iloilo in August 2022.
Furthermore, she noted that P600 million worth of smuggled onions were intercepted in 2022 alone, while P521.5 million worth of smuggled sugar were seized from different ports since 2021.
