MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has directed the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to intensify their fight against agriculture smuggling.
According to the Chief Executive, Republic Act (RA) 12022 or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act must be strongly implemented to prevent the disruption of the supply chain.
“Kaya’t ito ‘yung buong tinatawag na chain na kailangan nating buwagin,” Marcos said in a speech at the Manila International Container Terminal in Tondo, Manila.
“I hope, this is the first of many operations such as this dahil this is very, very important. At, kailangan nating ma-control, kailangan nating ma-supervise ang ating food supply. Kapag ka tuloy-tuloy ang ginagawang ganito hindi natin magagawa ‘yun,” he added.
President Marcos is at the MICT on Saturday as he personally inspected the P178.5 million worth of smuggled frozen mackerel that was imported fto.
The President said the coordination among concerned agencies played a key part in the confiscation of the frozen mackerel.
“As I said, is the first case under the new law of the Anti-Agricultural Sabotage Act. So, I’ve spoken to our Bureau of Customs, and I’ve spoken to the Department of Agriculture and we have to keep going. Kailangang patibayin pa natin ito,” Marcos said.
The BOC has seized P5.87 billion worth of smuggled agricultural products from July 2022 to November 2024, as part of government efforts to address agricultural sabotage.
The agency filed 250 cases involving agricultural products worth P8.59 billion from 2018 to 2024. They also recorded four convictions involving illicit importation of agricultural products./PN
