Custom-made crisis

“Yearly, the agriculture sector has been the laggard of the economy as it achieves minimal growth compared to the soaring expansion in other industries.

During a recent Senate hearing, many were dumbstruck after the Bureau of Customs or BoC pointed out “loopholes” in the battle against agricultural smuggling.

Pervasive problems, primarily cheap imports, have been keeping the farm sector from developing as fast as other sectors of the economy, which means the agricultural sector has failed to reach its full potential over the years.

While President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. reviews ways to make the markets more efficient and to remove opportunities for smuggled commodities to kill local trade, the “loopholes” the BoC is using as alibis become the main obstacle to progress.

Under the Marcos formula, vertical integration will be employed to allow harvests to enter the supply chain from farm to consumer.

It is a strategy employed by some of the biggest food chains which not only allows them to regulate prices but also to guarantee the quality of the final product.

The “loopholes” the BoC mentioned are spoilers to any plans to eradicate smuggling since they emanate from the agency itself.

Many smuggling cases are dropped by the mere act of Customs officials not attending hearings, suggesting that they are in cahoots with the smugglers who are being prosecuted.

Industry groups complain of collusion between Customs officials and smugglers to reduce the value of smuggled goods to escape the threshold of economic sabotage.

Customs law gives examiners the authority to determine the value of a shipment.

Republic Act 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, provides that large-scale agricultural smuggling becomes economic sabotage if its value is at least P1 million or at least P10 million for rice, as determined by the BoC.

The BoC official who attended the Senate hearing said the Bureau of Customs had met with the Department of Justice regarding the loopholes and that these were being addressed.

The official’s statement, however, becomes superficial considering that the problems are endemic and are impossible to solve through mere dialogue.

The head of the BoC was not even at the Senate hearing and the situational on the problems the bureau is facing in eradicating smuggling came from his underlings.

One of his deputies said the BoC commissioner was in an executive committee meeting with the Department of Finance.

While at the Department of Agriculture, President Marcos, who is the concurrent Agriculture secretary, and his officials are racking their brains to end the scourge of agricultural smuggling.

Yearly, the agriculture sector has been the laggard of the economy as it achieves minimal growth compared to the soaring expansion in other industries.

As the problem persists, Filipinos are discouraged from becoming farmers and would rather become traders or work at other jobs where they can make more money with less effort.

Smuggling and unfair competition from imports have been blamed for the stunted growth of the agriculture sector.

Consider the problem of onions where the domestic harvest is abundant but unscrupulous middlemen deny farmers the use of storage facilities to drive up prices and give them an excuse to import.

Through collusion with crooked Customs officials, the importations become a window for outright smuggling.

Unless the BoC “loopholes” are plugged, any acts to fix the stunted agricultural output will come to naught.

Credit belongs to: tribune.net.ph