Smugglers and saboteurs

As our main staple, rice is the must-have basic food on every Filipino family table, rich or poor. It is so important that ensuring rice supply is a top priority in our country’s national security concerns.

Incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) has seen up close and personal the rice crisis in our country during the administration of his late namesake father. The long lines of people queuing to buy rice ration was a dear lesson that the young Marcos obviously carried in his memories. So much so it became his campaign promise in his May 2022 presidential run to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo.

It was at a time when the price of rice breached to more than P50 per kilo, especially for well-milled rice, both locally produced and imported. PBBM assumed in concurrent capacity as Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary when he first assumed office in June 2022. For more than a year, the presidential convoy motored to and from Malacañang Palace and the DA head office on Elliptical Road in Quezon City as he juggled both jobs.

PBBM finally appointed fishing magnate and long-time friend Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. to be his agriculture secretary on Nov. 3 last year. It was as good a time as any to have a full-time agriculture secretary to focus on the pressing problems and concerns on our country’s food security.

From artificial shortages of onions and other vegetable products to a new outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), the DA secretary has his hands full in his first year in office. This is not to mention crop and farm losses destroyed by typhoons and natural calamities that can disrupt the supply chain. On top of all these, the DA chief has to deal with man-made problems like bureaucratic maze and corruption in and out of the government involved in the agriculture sector he has to work with.

One of these is the very obvious orchestrated efforts to stop the price of rice from going down.

One of these efforts was Executive Order (EO) 62 signed by PBBM on June 21 this year that cut the tariff for imported rice from 35 percent to 15 percent. Issued during the congressional break when the Chief Executive can exercise legislative power to reduce or increase tariff rates, the Marcos administration was banking on EO 62 to help bring down the price of rice.

But lo and behold. We were suddenly made aware that around 888 container vans loaded with tons of imported rice, mostly from Vietnam, remain unclaimed at the south and north harbor ports of Manila. Managed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) headed by general manager Jay Daniel Santiago, the 888 containers were estimated to contain 23 million kilos of rice that have been overstaying and might go to waste.

Under the Customs’ Modernization Tariff Act, Santiago cited, any shipment that has been cleared for pullout but remains in the port for more than 30 days is considered abandoned. Cleared means the shipment has paid taxes and other duties to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and licensing from concerned DA agencies that it is safe and fit for human consumption.

Speaking before the Makati Business Club Tuesday last week, Tiu Laurel bared complaints reaching his office about the delayed release of shipments of the imported rice and other agricultural products. To which the PPA chief reacted by conducting on-site inspection to deny any port congestion. Literally pointing his finger at a number of containers piled up at the ports, Santiago admitted some containers have been staying in the port for 275 days, while another has been lying idle for 161 days. Another container has been in the port for 26 days, etc. etc.

“We will give the consignees until the end of the month, until Sept. 30. We promised the Department of Agriculture that by Oct. 1, we will report which among the containers filled with rice are staying in the ports for more than 30 days and then, we will go through the process and endorse that to the Bureau of Customs for appropriate action,” Santiago vowed.

For its part, BOC official spokesman Vincent Maronilla announced the government has two options for these unclaimed container vans. Either the BOC donates the imported rice to the Kadiwa stores of the DA, or auction them off if they are still fit for human consumption, Maronilla explained.

PBBM noted with optimism that rice prices in the Philippines would continue to go down as projected by his economic advisers, like the trend being seen in our neighbors in the region. “And it seems to be consistent again with the same experience of other ASEAN countries like Thailand and Vietnam,” the President told the sectoral meeting that tackled inflation outlook and management strategies of the government at Malacañang yesterday.

According to the Presidential Communications Office, rice prices in Vietnam and Thailand have eased, with the landed cost of the imported food staple declining by 15 percent or about P7 per kilogram as of mid-September, following the implementation of lower tariffs under EO 62.

Briefing reporters after the Malacañang meeting yesterday, Tiu Laurel disclosed the DA is now looking into the companies allegedly involved in the container vans which have remained unclaimed in the Manila ports. Offhand, two of these companies found by the DA were no longer existing. He conceded the delays in the shipping and delivery of imported agricultural products, including tons of rice, were partly caused also by several storms and weather disturbances.

Following this latest rice brouhaha, the PPA and the DA have agreed to intensify the monitoring of the entry of rice and other prime commodities like pork, chicken and onions. Especially with the onset of the Christmas season, imported foodstuff like fresh fruit products peak during this period.

Indeed it is also very timely PBBM is set to sign into law tomorrow at Malacañang the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act. These smugglers will now face the harshest punishment as economic saboteurs.