The chairperson of the House Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday joined the clamor for the immediate investigation into the reported smuggling of agricultural products into the country, saying unscrupulous traders and government officials who are coddling the perpetrators should be punished to the full extent of the law. Rep.…
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The Bureau of Customs has filed 30 cases against suspected smugglers who tried to sneak in nearly P400 million worth of imports in the first quarter of the year.
(File photo) MANILA - The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday said smugglers of agricultural products should be prosecuted and held accountable to protect the country's farmers. During a House hearing, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to prosecute cases more strongly against large scale agricultural smuggling pursuant to Republic Act No. 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act. The law designates large-scale agricultural smuggling as "economic sabotage." "Large scale agricultural smuggling is the single gravest sin to Philippine society today. I am disappointed in the Department of Justice that it does not use the efforts of the NBI enough," Salceda said in response to an answer from the DOJ that it merely uses its own initiative to pursue cases from the Bureau of Customs (BOC). He said leaving the prosecutors to figure out these agricultural smuggling