AFTER almost a year of waiting, the last piece of the government’s arsenal against agricultural smugglers is finally in place.
Last week, the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council (AAESC) was convened to approve protocols and rules of engagement in the fight against smugglers of agricultural products.
The Council serves as the “execution arm” of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act (AAES) or Republic Act 12022 that was signed into law by President Marcos Jr. in September last year.
The law classifies smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, cartel and financing of crimes involving agricultural and fishery products as acts of economic sabotage. It carries a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of up to five times the value of the products. It repealed RA 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 that never sent a big crook to prison.
The protected farm produce whose smuggling would be treated as economic sabotage are sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, tobacco, and cruciferous vegetables in either raw, processed, or preserved form.
Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick Go, who represents the President in the Council, said the AAES law is now fully operational with the commissioning of the inter-agency body.
‘We just hope that the AAES law will not go the way of the first useless law that it replaced. It should be insulated from corruption and politics.’
Go said the Council has onboarded a special team of prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and tapped the Department of Agriculture (DA) for its daily price index to deter price manipulation. Both the DA and DOJ are Council members.
The Council also authorized an enforcement group composed of the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, and the Department of Finance to conduct search, seizure, or arrest for any violation of the AAES Act.
It also directed the member agencies to ensure readiness of storage facilities for seized goods to ensure proper handling and disposition.
When the law was first broached in Congress as a panacea to agricultural smuggling, it was met with guarded optimism as the country was reeling from shortages in sugar, rice, tomatoes, onions, eggs and chillis.
The government loses billions every year from smuggling activities with farmers, fisherfolk, their allied sectors and consumers as losers.
In 2023, some P3 billion in revenues were lost to agricultural smuggling, according to the Office of the President, while the DA seized P2.83 billion worth of smuggled agricultural goods in 2024.
In the first two months of 2025, authorities already confiscated P162.7 million worth of illegal agri-fishery products.
The BOC, from July 2022 to November 2024, derailed the entry of P5.87 billion worth of smuggled agricultural products.
In a study from 1986 to 2009, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research reported that rice was the top smuggled product in the country amounting to P112.50 billion followed by refined sugar at P25.7 billion, beef at P24.6 billion, and onion at P14.8 billion.
Suffice it to say, the public has great expectations from the new law that it should finally net a big fish with the pro-active steering of the Council.
We just hope that the AAES law will not go the way of the first useless law that it replaced. It should be insulated from corruption and politics.
Those who lived through the first Marcos presidency might recall the fate of Chinese drug lord Lim Seng who was executed by firing squad in 1973 to showcase government’s tough resolve against illegal drugs.
While we don’t advocate the return to such barbaric punishment, the seriousness and boldness that defined Seng’s prosecution should be the standard in waging the war against agricultural smugglers.
