By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Agricultural and fishery products smuggling may go largely unimpeded, at least for the next 3-4 months. This is a dire prediction of somebody who is directly knowledgeable of what is going on at our various ports. I hope it will not be the case.
I once asked a sitting senator why they are having a lot of public hearings about smuggling. It was the first and last time that I came at breath length with the senator. The senator and I just happened to sit next to each other in a gathering of professionals. The answer came swiftly, “It is necessary in aid of legislation. Knowing the truth is important”. Aside from the public hearings, the senator’s committee also did some related investigation.
“Honorable Senator, were you able to ascertain the truth then?”, was my follow-up question. “Yes, we were even able to identify smugglers”, was the quick reply. Just as quickly, I then asked the good senator, what they were doing with the result of their investigation and public hearings? Specifically, were they recommending the prosecution of the identified smugglers? The answer stunned me like a bolt of lightning. The good senator told me: “We can hardly recommend for the prosecution of those smugglers because they are very rich and influential.”
I was so irreverent I rapidly mumbled, “Then your public hearings are just a waste of people’s money”. I didn’t know if the senator clearly heard me, as not a whiff of reply came.
At the moment, agricultural product smuggling may actually go a bit unabated. Why? The Department of Agriculture is headed by no less than President BBM who can not actually directly supervise the department due to the gargantuan concerns of the presidency.
He appointed in his behalf an experienced technocrat but who is already an octogenarian. PBBM gave him a designation as a senior undersecretary to identify him above other undersecretaries in the department. Some people opined that while the senior USEC is good and has certainly proven himself in the past, he may not have the verve anymore to deal with the constant rigors of his position. Maybe a younger one, even in his/her early seventies, could provide more energy for the job, they say.
Another very plausible reason, for a possible smuggling continuity is the absence of pre-inspection of imports at the ports of origin.
Look at this. Before, the government contracted a reputable international organization, the SGS (the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company) headquartered in Switzerland, to perform the pre-inspection at the point of origin of imports. Inspection was done before merchandises were loaded to ships or planes. That arrangement was so good, it deterred smuggling and the government earned more from the duties of the imported goods.
The government dealt only with SGS, and the company was answerable to any smuggled goods from those that were part of the inspected imported products. There was very little problem then with smuggling because of the implementation of such system.
Pre-inspection was removed during the presidency of ERAP resulting to a free-for-all of importation. No more control at the point of origin of imports. Because of this, smuggling became rampant, government was short-changed thereby losing a lot of income.
Before, many importers rely on licensed brokers where they were assessed the regular and proper tax. One container van of legal imports was assessed PhP160,000.00. Am not sure how true it is, but according to some information, unscrupulous importers no longer use the licensed brokers, as there is another avenue for them to pay less. They just shell out PhP60,000.00/container van, and without inspection. The balance of 100K go to similarly devious individuals.
That free-for-all and no prior inspection spawn consequential problems such as uncertainty of currently available local supply.
When there was an uproar about the aborted importation of 300,000 kg of sugar, the government was guessing that we have actually enough local supply. They raided some storage facilities. Lo and behold there was really evidence of “hoarding”. But prices went up already up to about PhP 134.00/kg of white sugar from a “low” of PhP60.00/kg. Definitely, without prior inspection from the port of origin, it will be difficult to determine availability of local supply, or what is in storage at a given time. It could possibly result to signing of importation (as what happened to sugar) of what is perceived as the needed volume of deficient product supply-and the resignation/firing of signatories who are just doing their best to prevent escalation of a supply problem. It will give rise to more smuggling and to greater loss of income of the government. Logically, there will be a resultant artificial spike in prices to the chagrin of the consumers.
The recycling of permit to import, which is happening, is also tantamount to smuggling.
It seems there is an urgent need to install a real secretary of the Dept of Agriculture. There is also a need to go back to the prior system of pre-inspection of imports before such imports will land on our shores.
Calling the members of Congress to pass the needed legislation, before the problem of smuggling become so unmanageable, it will deluge all of us.
President BBM should be careful in putting people in sensitive positions. It could be his waterloo. **
