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House urged to form economic intel group to pursue smugglers

By Filane Mikee Cervantes

May 31, 2022, 3:38 pm

<p><em>(File photo)</em></p>

(File photo)

MANILA – The Department of the Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday urged the House of Representatives to pass a bill institutionalizing the interagency Sub Task Group on Economic Intelligence (STGEI) to go after profiteers, price manipulators, hoarders and smugglers.

During the House Committee on Agriculture and Food's hearing on the perennial problem of agricultural commodity smuggling in the country, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo and DA Secretary William Dar said the subtask group is crucial to pursue agricultural intelligence on smuggling.

The subtask group consists of the DA, in collaboration with the DTI and other related government agencies.

However, Dar and Castelo pointed out that the subtask group is only temporary with insufficient personnel and funding.

“This started last year when we created the IATF (Inter Agency Task Force) on Food Security and the establishment of this STGEI is part of it. The [STGEI] has no regular budget, even the department has no regular budget for anti-smuggling (campaigns)," Dar said.

The STGEI was initially created to go after unscrupulous traders, viajeros, and wholesalers, who have unreasonably jacked up the prices of hogs and pork, hovering at more than PHP400 per kilogram (kg) that persisted even beyond the 2020 Christmas season.

Castelo, who is part of the STGEI, seized a total of PHP600 million worth of smuggled agricultural products during at least 17 operations since the body's formation last year.

“Even DTI Secretary [Ramon] Lopez has actually agreed to release funds to STGEI but there is no way that we can because of the audit rules. We cannot release funding even if we want it,” Castelo said.

House Committee on Agriculture and Food chair Mark Enverga requested the DTI and DA to submit to Congress their formal proposal and the necessary documents regarding personnel and budgetary requirements.

“May we ask you Mr. Secretary [Dar] to submit the framework of the existing task group, personnel needed, and the budgetary requirements of the sub task force, we will take that into consideration to strengthen the task force against agricultural smuggling,” Enverga said.

The committee tackled House Resolution 2282, filed by MAGSASAKA party-list Rep. Argel Joseph Cabatbat, to look into the state of border inspection and its facilities, food safety regulations, and the perennial problem of agricultural commodity smuggling.

Benguet legislative caretaker Rep. Eric Go Yap expressed his full support to HR 2282 and vowed to pursue the matter in the incoming 19th Congress to prosecute vegetable smugglers.

“The entry and distribution of smuggled vegetables hurdles our endeavor to empower our local farmers and to achieve self-sufficiency,” Yap said.

He said illegally imported vegetables have prompted Benguet farmers to lower farmgate prices and forced them to throw away harvested produce.

During the hearing, Cabatbat followed up on the Cambridge Consumers Cooperative’s complaint about the alleged extortion and refusal to release shipment containers by some Bureau of Plant and Industry personnel.

He also cited the 7,871 metric tons of onions that were illegally released without a valid importation permit.

Enverga urged the DA to take action regarding their questionable personnel and pledged to take up the issue in the next Congress. (PNA)

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