Releasing smuggled rice to smugglers

Which has the higher priority—the alleged Napoles scam that has been estimated to cost the government P10 billion in 10 years, or smuggling, which is 200 times the amount involved in the scam?

In his Sona, President Aquino said that, because of smuggling, the government lost P200 billion in revenue in only one year.

Also, which has the higher priority—identifying who the alleged rice smuggler David Tan is, or releasing smuggled rice back to smugglers?

Last Jan. 17, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) announced the release of 167 containers of smuggled rice.

This significant move got very little attention. The new Customs management should be commended for seizing nearly 2,000 rice containers.

But releasing these containers back to the smugglers, in compliance with a Davao regional court order, makes the anti-smuggling drive look like a farce.

This is because it sets a precedent for the release of the remaining rice containers, especially since the Manila and Batangas regional trial courts (RTCs) have issued similar injunctions.

Should this happen, not only would the government’s anti-smuggling credibility suffer, it would also sustain more revenue losses.

More importantly, three million rice farmers will lose their livelihood, plunging them deeper into poverty.

With climate change, the uncertainty of the world’s rice supply, and dangerously fluctuating prices, our food security may be in serious jeopardy.

Quantitative restrictions

If there are no quantitative restrictions (QRs) on imported rice, we will be flooded with imports. This is because smuggled rice costs P900 a bag, while local rice sells for P1,500.

It is only recently that we have seen our government spend for the needed irrigation and the latest in rice technology to make us competitive. Results cannot be seen overnight. We need a reasonable period to gain competitiveness.

This adjustment period was accepted in the recent 9th World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, last December. Negotiations for this period’s deadline are currently ongoing. This is the best proof that WTO recognizes our QRs.

While we are busy trying to find out who David Tan is, the BOC has released smuggled rice containers to Joseph Ngo, who is not even a registered importer.

If we continue to give this incident very little attention, we will see the release of the rest of the smuggled rice following the injunctions of the Davao, Manila, and Batangas trial courts.

Farmer initiatives

When will this stop?

Since rice farmers saw little government action, two groups called a press conference last Jan. 17.  They were the Alyansa Agrikultura, a farmer-fishfolk coalition of 42 federations and organizations covering all agricultural sectors, and R1, a rice watch and action network.

Two leaders stated that they instituted legal action since the government was not protecting them. Jimmy Tadeo of the National Rice Farmers Council filed a document with Supreme Court Justice Maria Lourdes-Sereno.

He asked for an evaluation of the Davao judge’s possible “gross ignorance of the law,” as well as the neglect, inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the national interest. This is because the Davao judge allowed a Customs official to represent the government, when the law requires that only the Office of the Solicitor General can do so.

Other discrepancies cited include the fact that, contrary to legal procedure, there was no hearing conducted to allow the government to state its position.

Trining Domingo of the Rural Women’s Congress submitted a list of similar charges to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales against a Customs official.

This official not only illegally represented the government position, but also gave a very faulty defense. He even said: “There is no exact legal opinion on that, Your honor.”

Domingo cited section 3 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. This declares as unlawful the act of a public officer which causes “any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”

Priorities

Just as attention to smuggling should be of higher priority than the alleged Napoles case, the release of smuggled rice to smugglers should get more priority than identifying who David Tan is.

Catching a smuggler is important, but losing significant government revenues, endangering our food security, destroying the livelihood of Filipino rice farmers, and ironically making a big joke out of our anti-smuggling drive, which has only recently scored significant achievements, is much more important.

“Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap (If no one is corrupt, no one would be poor).”

To overcome poverty, we must not only fight corruption.  We must also increase our competence. Improving our competence in deciding on the right priorities is crucial, especially in the government’s current drive against smuggling.

(The author is chair of Agriwatch, former secretary for Presidential Flagship Programs and Projects, and former undersecretary for Agriculture, Trade and Industry. For inquiries and suggestions, email [email protected] or telefax (02) 8522112).