Ombudsman subpoena source of farmers’ joy

Subpoenas usually strike fear in the hearts of those called to testify. But the subpoena received by the Alyansa Agrikultura to appear at the Ombudsman’s office brought joy to the farmers.

This was because the subpoena was a result of the Alyansa’s complaint regarding the Bureau of Customs’ (BoC) inaction on the evidence of smuggling that the Alyansa had presented.

BoC anniversary

Last Feb. 6 was the 110th founding anniversary of BoC. Under the Inquirer headline, “Aquino tells ‘horror stories’ of corruption at Customs anniversary celebration,” Christine Avendaño wrote: “It’s like being slapped in the face. This was President Aquino’s angry reaction to the continuing corruption at the Bureau of Customs … The President appealed to the bureau to help fix the system as he vowed to fix its state.”

The Alyansa, with its 42 federations and organizations representing all major agricultural sectors, fully supports P-Noy in this campaign.

Alyansa was not only ignored but had also been opposed by certain BoC officials during the previous administration.

As in all organizations, BoC has good elements. BoC Commissioner Rufino Biazon and Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim have acted swiftly on Alyansa anti-smuggling reports. This has resulted in the confiscation of smuggled agricultural goods and the corresponding charges filed against the smugglers. However, the “bad elements” at BoC would often oppose the Alyansa’s anti-smuggling initiatives.

The most telling example was when the Alyansa testified at a Sept. 14, 2009, Senate hearing on the onion smuggling that was harming the livelihood of 80,000 onion farmers.

The Alyansa followed this up with a Sept. 22, 2009, letter to the BoC asking for action against a list of 63 onion shipments with no import permits.

Smuggling significance

The least that BoC should have done was to contact the alleged smugglers and ask them to explain why they had illegally imported these onions. Despite several follow-ups, the BoC never took action on this. Thus, onion smuggling continued for the next two years. It is believed that the same alleged smugglers identified in the Alyansa 2009 submission continued their smuggling with impunity.

The farmers welcome help from the government, especially because they believe the government betrayed them in not providing the competitive enhancement measures to cope with the imposed rapid trade liberalization.

These measures include increased irrigation, accessible credit, and technology transfer. But the farmers deserve justice more than assistance. To additionally subject them to rampant smuggling is unfair and deplorable.

Twenty percent of the imports today are agricultural products. If we assume that the extent of agricultural smuggling is at the same rate as other products (though we believe it is significantly more), then the agricultural smuggling estimate is P130 billion annually. From a net food exporter, the Philippines is now a net importer. Worse, we are importing smuggled goods that are destroying our farmers’ livelihood and bringing them deeper into poverty.

Recommendation

We commend Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala for his successful drive to minimize DA corruption. We also appreciate his efforts, together with Congressional Agriculture Committee Chairs Senator Francis Pangilinan and Representative Mark Mendoza, as well as the Agricultural Fisheries 2025 (AF 2025), private sector leaders, for getting the largest 2012 department budget increase of 54 percent to supplement DA’s agricultural support services.

However, these benefits will be minimized if rampant agricultural smuggling continues. The Ombudsman’s subpoena, which is a source of joy to the farmers because it indicates a significant effort to curb BoC corruption, should now be followed up with a systematic anti-smuggling plan done with the BoC good elements. The Alyansa recommended this during last year’s Feb. 10 AF 2025 conference, but this has not been done. Neither have the nine prominent retail outlets caught last Dec. 13 with smuggled agricultural goods submitted by the Alyansa been charged. And that was almost two months ago!

We recommend that these needed actions be undertaken immediately in support of P-Noy’s anti-smuggling directive. This will provide added sources of joy for our embattled and impoverished farmers and fisherfolk, who are the most affected victims of rampant smuggling today.

The author is chair of Agriwatch, former secretary for presidential flagship programs and projects, and former undersecretary for Agriculture, and Trade and Industry. For inquiries and suggestions, e-mail [email protected] or telefax (02) 8522112.