Senate agri committee chair backs private rice imports ban

DIGOS CITY, Philippines—The chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food said she supported proposals to stop the issuance of import permits for rice as a means to stop its smuggling.

Senator Cynthia Villar. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Sen. Cynthia Villar, whose committee is investigating the rampant smuggling of rice and other agricultural products, said private businesses, under the proposal made during one of her committee hearings, would no longer have any role in the importation of rice.

“The suggestion came from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), and   I agree with it. It will be much easier and simplified if the importation will be done only by the government,” she said.

She said that under the proposal, only the National Food Authority would be allowed to import rice in anticipation of low supply during the lean months.

“It’s better than allowing the private sector [to import] because by not doing so, smugglers would not have much opportunity to do their foolishness,” Villar said.

She said that while the ban on private sector importation of rice had not been adopted, the government could implement several measures to stop smuggling.

Among these, she said, is to stop the issuance of import permits.

“If there is no import permit, they should not allow any shipment to come in. For the BOC, they could simply confiscate shipments not covered by import permits, and then the DOJ (Department of Justice) should file the necessary charges,” she said.

Villar added that only a serious inter-agency campaign could put a stop to smuggling at this point.

Villar said rice smuggling had become too serious a problem that it is not only the government losing from it but also farmers, who get low prices for their produce because of the entry of imported rice.

“The rice industry said in 2012 that the 800,000 metric tons of rice that entered the country were smuggled and it translated to revenue losses of P8.4 billion for the government. In 2013, there were about 20 million bags and we lost P10 billion,” she said.

While farmers suffered the consequences of smuggling, Villar said the people behind it raked in billions of pesos.

“Smugglers made a lot of money from it,” she said.

In Zamboanga City, rice trader Edna Lucero Jaena, 60, said she was once a rice farmer in Bayog town in Zamboanga del Sur province but abandoned farming because of the influx of imported rice.

“My family would have starved if I did not shift to trading. In farming, you spend so much and only get a few bucks,” Jaena said.

She said the government’s lack of support for rice farmers convinced her to abandon farming and shift to trading.

“It’s easier to sell imported rice,” she said. Reports from Allan Nawal, Julie Alipala and Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao

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