DA tightens watch on agri importers

Importers of agricultural commodities have until Dec. 31 to have their sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) papers evaluated, or else they would not be able to bring in shipments anymore, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he had relieved the Bureaus of Animal Industry (BAI) and Plant Industry (BPI) the authority to issue the SPS papers, which serve as import permits.

Following his announcement on Nov. 22 that all import permits for farm products have been canceled and would have to undergo re-issuance, the DA’s Office of the Secretary is directly processing importers’ papers.

Back then, he said this was meant to weed out smugglers, particularly those who bring in more than one shipment using the permit and those who bring in commodities are than what are stated in the bills of lading.

Piñol said his office had already processed 12,000 SPS papers over the past month, which means that 7,000 of about 12,000 such documents that the BAI and the BPI issued during the Aquino administration.

“We now have a clearer picture of the situation,” Piñol said. “Because of this campaign, we were able to weed out the fake clearances used by unscrupulous importers.”

When asked whether any trader or importer has been penalized, Piñol said there was none.

He said the intention of the initiative was not to penalize anyone, but “to get a clearer picture of the system, make sure that the government is not shortchanged, and that farmers are protected” from the influx of low-priced imports.

On Dec. 1, the Meat Importers and Traders Association Inc. (Mita) called on the DA to focus its anti-smuggling efforts on customs bonded warehouses instead of importers themselves, mainly because the latter approach has yielded no results.

Mita president Jesus C. Cham said in a letter to Piñol that too much time spent “looking over the shoulder” of legitimate importers was draining the dynamism and resources of all stakeholders, including the DA itself.

Cham said the revalidation of SPS clearances and non-issuance of new Clearances is wreaking havoc on meat importers and their clients—including meat processors, hotels and restaurants, food service, retailers and consumers. —RONNEL W. DOMINGO