SEN. Francis “Chiz” Escudero has lately been asking the right questions, the same questions aired silently by many Filipinos who have been following how the Marcos administration is handling the issue of high cost of food and agricultural products.
Escudero asked, “Why has the Bureau of Customs (BOC) not filed criminal charges against suspected hoarders and smugglers of rice?”
The relevant question was raised by the senator days after tens of thousands of sacks of suspected smuggled imported rice were found and seized from several storage warehouses in Bulacan.
The raid in Bulacan was followed by another BOC operation on September 14 at a warehouse in Bacoor, Cavite and another one in Pulang Lupa in Las Piñas, and found P40 million worth of suspected smuggled rice from Vietnam, Thailand and China.
During the investigation, it was discovered that the traders sell a 25-kilo sack of Vietnamese rice for P1,320, which is equivalent to P52.8 per kilo, in violation of the government’s price ceiling of P41 to 45 per kilo for well-milled and regular-milled rice.
`… despite the proliferation
of smuggling of farm products, and after seven years since the passage
of the law, the government has not sent a single economic saboteur to jail.’
The next day, September 15, it was the turn of the Bureau of Customs in the Port of Zamboanga to conduct a raid. Agents there seized 42,180 sacks of rice worth P42 million in Barangay San Jose Gusu after establishing that the goods were not covered by the requisite sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance from the Bureau of Plant Industry.
“Ang dami nang raids na ginawa nitong mga nakaraang linggo, bakit hanggang ngayon ay wala pang kasong naisasampa sa mga taong sangkot? (Authorities have conducted numerous raids the past weeks. Why have they not filed any case against anyone yet)?”
Escudero said.
He stressed that the government should not stop at only conducting raids. He said the Department of Justice should follow these raids up by building air-tight cases and filing these in court. He said bringing the “economic saboteurs” to court will serve as a warning that the Marcos government is serious in its campaign against smugglers and hoarders who are being blamed for the artificial rice shortage and rice price increases.
The justice system should take over from there, even as the executive department continues to implement Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 which considers large-scale smuggling of agricultural products as economic sabotage.
The mention of this law reminds us of another senator who said that despite the proliferation of smuggling of farm products, and after seven years since the passage of the law, the government has not sent a single economic saboteur to jail.
To the NBI and the DOJ, which received direct orders on this matter from President Bongbong Marcos weeks ago, Chiz Escudero and the rest of us are waiting.
