4 MIN READ

By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Cordillera farmers group Alyansa dagiti Pesante ti Kordilyera (Pesant Alliance in the Cordillera Homeland or Apit Tako) said government officials do not have the political will to end vegetable smuggling, adding that some are even involved in the illegal practice.

Apit Tako spokesperson Fernando Mangili said the involvement of government officials and politicians shows the systemic problem in the country’s vegetable trade. He made the statement during his August 13 talk at a forum on vegetable smuggling in the Cordillera at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center.

“If they want to stop smuggling, all they have to do is implement the law to the letter, punish smugglers and hold involved government officials to account,” Mangili said.

He added that smuggling operations continue with the help of corrupt officials.

Last June, the Senate Committee of the whole came out with a report naming Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Department of Agriculture (DA) officials and two mayors as “protecors” of smugglers.

Among those included from the customs office were BOC chief Rey Leonardo Guerrero, Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Group Raniel Ramiro, Deputy Commissioner Vener Baquiran of the Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, Director Geofrey Tacio of the Intelligence and Investigation Service, and lawyer Yasser Abbas of the Import and Assessment.

Those in the agriculture office were Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan, Bureau of Plant and Industry (BPI) Director George Culaste, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director Eduardo Gongona, and Laarni Roxas of BPI Plant Quarantine Services Division Region 3.

Also named were Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco and Tuburan Mayor Jun Diamante. A certain Gerry Teves, allegedly the “number one smuggler” of meat products in the country, was included in the list.

The accused officials denied involvement.

Benguet farmers have been demanding a stop to vegetable smuggling. Since 2021, the League of Associations at La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post monitored carrots and cabbages from China illegally entering the country. Retailers sell the smuggled goodsin the markets of Metro Manila, Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, Sariaya in Quezon province, and Urdaneta in Pangasinan.

They also complained about imported strawberries from South Korea.

Importation of agriculture products

Aside from smuggled vegetables, Mangili said that importing other agricultural products also contributes to the loss of farmers.

“Importations is not bad but we should only import what we need. Our farmers can produce enough temperate vegetables to feed the country. We do not need to import temperate vegetables,” he stressed.

Benguet alone supplies 80 percent of the country’s temperate vegetable needs.

Based on BPI’s list of allowable fruits and vegetables, the Philippines can import temperate vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, and celery from Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United States.

Meanwhile, domestic traders can only acquire fruits, onion, ginger, and garlic from China. However, Benguet farmers and traders have been complaining of carrots from China flooding major markets in the country.

Mangili recalled that despite the opposition of farmers and local traders, the administration of the late President Fidel Ramos signed the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade in the World Trade Organization, opening the domestic market to foreign products.

“We lobbied, staged protest actions against the opening up of our markets to imported products, but to no avail, and our fear then that our farmers will be at the losing end once imported products flood our markets happened and continues to happen until today,” he said.

Mangili reiterated that the government should stop its liberal trade policy and instead develop agriculture to give farmers a fighting chance.

“Our officials should also master the political will to genuinely develop the agriculture industry and give bigger support to farmers so they could compete with foreign products,” he added.

Youth joins fight

At the end of the discussion, participants signed a manifesto reiterating their call to government officials to end smuggling. Through the declaration, youth organizations, including Sangguniang Kabataan officials in Benguet, also committed to stand with farmers in asserting and defending their rights.

Among those who signed the manifesto is Jordan Santos from the Progressive Igorots for Social Action (PIGSA)-La Trinidad, an agriculture biochemistry student at the University of the Philippines Los Banos. He underscored the importance of developing the agriculture industry in the country.

“We should work together to demand better government policies for agriculture and encourage big businesses to invest in local farmers,” Santos said.

He added that neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam are faring better than the Philippines in agriculture because they provide better government support for farmers.

In 2020, Vietnam was the top rice supplier in the country, followed by Thailand.# nordis.net