SMUGGLING COHORTS. Agriculture Secretary William Dar warns "technical smuggling cohorts" within the Department of Agriculture (DA) in an aired Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday (March 30, 2022). Dar said they will recommend the suspension and filing of administrative charges against "high-profile" personalities and DA personnel found engaged in agricultural smuggling. (Screengrab)
MANILA – Agriculture Secretary William Dar on Wednesday warned that personnel of his agency would be slapped with suspension or administrative charges if they are found to be acting as “cohorts” of technical smugglers in the country.
In a Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday, Dar said smugglers of agricultural products usually get away with their crime by passing through legal channels, using technical smuggling schemes like misdeclaration, undervaluation, or misclassification.
These smuggled goods enter the market with the help of “big-time” personalities with some help from their cohorts within the DA, the secretary said.
“Irerekomenda po nating, base dun sa (We will recommend, based on the) existing laws, kung ano ‘yung karampatang mga (what are the proper) repercussions of their illegal acts, at the end of the day, kung suspension muna, i-suspend (we will suspend them if needed), upon the recommendation of the department of agriculture,” Dar said.
The DA earlier warned that “high-profile” individuals may face administrative charges even as Dar urged possible informants to help the government hasten its investigation.
“Continuous din ‘yung pagkakalap natin ng impormasyon at imbestigasyon kasi (We continuously gather information and investigate, because) we would like to do due diligence properly, at sana ‘yung mga may interaksyon, o merong kunstyabahan diyan, ay sabihin sa’min lahat itong impormasyon para mas mabuo at malaman natin kung sino po mga involved na opisyales (we hope that those who have had interactions, connivance, tell us all these information so that we may form and know who are these involved officials),” he said.
The DA also pointed out the need to further digitize their import and customs operations, in collaboration with the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
“Mas maigi kung (It’s better if), we will see to it that our quarantine officers manning this holding ports ay mabigyan sila ng iPad, para mapicturan lahat (they’ll be given iPads, so that they can take photos), ma-input dun sa database po natin (and input them in our database). This will help us reduce yung elbow room ng mga quarantine officers kung sila po ay kasabwat dito po sa misvaluation (if they are involved in this misvaluation),” Dar added.
Meanwhile, Dar said affected farmers and cooperatives could save on transportation costs by selling their agricultural products in Metro Manila through DA’s Kadiwa rolling stores.
In a Senate investigation on Monday, several agricultural groups disclosed how dreadful the effects of smuggling schemes are to farmers, with a 20- to 40-percent decline in the daily production of carrots alone, reaching PHP2.5 million in losses per day. (PNA)
