Lawmaker raises alarm over surge in rice smuggling

A member of the House committee on agriculture has raised the alarm over a reported surge in rice smuggling, noting this further cripples farmers income and lays to waste government’s efforts to curtail the entry of “undocumented” rice.

Abra Rep. JV Bernos said he has put on notice the Bureau of Customs on the rampant entry of smuggled rice which affects the livelihood of farmers as they have to contend with the low pricing of smuggled rice.

“Flooding our household with supplies of basic commodities like rice, vegetables, fruits and meat products will lower their prices and, therefore, will avert inflation,” he said. “But the shortcut to control inflation will kill the livelihood of our local farmers, the reason why I am sending the alert to the Customs men against willfully allowing smuggling to go unabated.”

Rice being bought by the National Food Authority, for instance, is now being priced lower due to the entry of smuggled rice. Thus, farmers’ income are affected, said Bernos.

Last January, Sen. Cynthia Villar sought the immediate investigation of the persons responsible for the entry of smuggled rice seized by operatives of the Philippine Coast Guard.

Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, noted that the PCG in Zamboanga seized 60,000 sacks of smuggled rice valued at about P125 million.

According to Bernos, the recent reports on rice shortage can be part of a bigger plan to justify the entry into the market of the smuggled staple, saying “the panic for an artificial shortage designed by unscrupulous traders will let Customs men loosen their grip on smuggling.”

The lawmaker said there were other reports of rice hoarding and other trade racket like mixing the grains with animal feeds, as in the case of the apprehension of the malpractice in a Bulacan warehouse in 2014.