‘But the Congress can only do so much…the work of arresting, prosecuting and punishing the smugglers belongs to the Executive and the Judiciary.
DO you know that we have old laws against smuggling, and another law particularly against the smuggling of agricultural products — Republic Act 10845 (Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016) — but until now, not one smuggler has been convicted or jailed despite the proliferation of smuggling of farm products through our ports and airports.
At the close of the 18th Congress, the Senate released a list of alleged smugglers of agricultural products and their protectors in government. The list was created, vetted and discussed by the whole Senate, and released by then Senate President Vicente Sotto III. Interestingly, it contained the names of top officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Customs and several local officials, who of course denied their involvement. Senate agriculture and food committee chair Sen. Cynthia Villar, who had an extensive work in probing smuggling of farm products, said the list contained some old and new names.
The senator also said that if anyone in government can decisively curb the smuggling of vegetables, fruits, pork, chicken and other agricultural produce, that would be President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Villar is expected to continue leading the Senate agriculture committee in the incoming 19th Congress, and the task of helping the government raise revenues through a no-nonsense fight against smuggling is a burden passed on to new officials, particularly presumptive Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri.
But the Congress can only do so much. They can probe and investigate, come up with lists, and endorse these violators to the Executive branch and the Office of the Ombudsman for proper action. But the work of arresting, prosecuting and punishing the smugglers belongs to the Executive and the Judiciary.
“We expect that the President can stop agricultural smuggling now that the President is also the secretary of agriculture,” said Senator Villar.
Presidential sister Sen. Imee Marcos is more emphatic, as she called for the prosecution of notorious smugglers, which she said should be done in the first 100 days of the new administration. She said the actual filing of cases against smugglers will be the measure of PBBM’s seriousness in curbing the misdeclaration and undervaluation of agricultural imports.
Her brother should do no less.
