Agriculture and food

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Agriculture and food
Sunday, 02 16, 2003

The Agriculture Sector Alliance of the Philippines (ASAP) declared last week a three-day “food holiday,” to call attention to the glut in meat products sourced from abroad. The Department of Agriculture (DA) said only 13.3 percent of the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) on pork – translated to 6,410,094 kilos of the MAV allocation of 48,185,000 kilos – was utilized last year. But why are our hog farmers complaining? They claim that technical smuggling is on the upsurge, owing to the indiscriminate and unmitigated issuance of Veterinary Quarantine Certificates (VQCs) which are being simply recycled to bring in more imports. For the year 2002, total pork importation was 49,724,765 kilos, covered by VQCs. And this does not yet include the volume smuggled in. Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo should put more teeth to his anti-smuggling efforts, and discipline those in the Agriculture bureaucracy who are so dense to the plight of our local producers as to issue VQCs allowing the entry of cheap competing foreign products.

The vegetable industry is also under assault. Between July to October last year, some 900,000 kilograms of vegetables were reportedly smuggled into the country. The provincial government of Benguet reported the seizure of P50 million, and the Bureau of Customs P37 million, worth of assorted smuggled vegetables. These are in addition to the 2 million kilograms of vegetables imported last year, a dramatic leap from the measly 10,000 kilograms imported in 1999. No wonder our vegetable farmers are up in arms. As in the case of meat importations, the influx of vegetable imports is the result of unmitigated issuance of import permits.

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Our Agriculture officials locked in the ongoing farm trade dispute with Australia should take the cue from former Agriculture secretary, now senator, Ed Angara, who called for a boycott of Australian cattle during his time, when Australia banned our fruits. Australia is our single biggest source of cattle, and if we source our cattle elsewhere, Australia will not think twice in finally accepting our pineapples and bananas.

The continued use by Australia of non-tariff barriers, to ban the entry of agriculture products from our country, is unreasonable. The Philippines has long ago provided scientific proof that our plantations, post-harvest and processing control systems adequately meet Australian sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations.

Bringing the case to the WTO through the dispute settlement panel may take time. This is accommodation. We should not fall into this trap. Time to play hard ball.

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Sen. Nene Pimentel scored the rampant smuggling of foreign meat and vegetables. He said the entry of contraband vegetables and meat from other countries has gone unabated despite the Anti-Smuggling Task Force headed by Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon of the Presidential Security Group.

Customs bonded warehouses are possible conduits for smuggling activities of unscrupulous traders who register as exporters but are actually engaged in importing or smuggling goods. Meat and vegetables are stored in these warehouses, and then spirited out and sold in the local market without paying duties and taxes. The government had better look into this modus operandi, and file charges against the owners of firms found engaged in smuggling to the prejudice of our local producers.

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The reported importation of 638,000 tons of rice from India, brokered allegedly by a businessman who is a long-time associate of the First Couple, according to Rep. Carlos Padilla, is criminal. The rice, of very low quality and infested with pests, did not go through the required public bidding. This highly anomalous importation should be investigated. While the rice from India is being sold to the public at P3 less than the usual regular NFA rice, the public had better be warned, as the rice is reportedly unfit for human consumption.

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If it is true as alleged by the ASAP that an official of the DA is the owner and operator of a cold-storage facility for imported meat, then there could be a conflict-of-interest situation making this official liable under our anti-graft laws. More damaging is the allegation that this official reportedly has encouraged meat importation, and abetted this by the issuance of VQCs. The ASAP asserts no amount of coddling by influential and powerful connections will get this official off the book this time.

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Sen. Tessie Oreta, after her visit to several public markets in Metro Manila, noted that the price of galunggong is P90 a kilo, a big jump from P60 a kilo in July last year when President Arroyo delivered her Sona and used the price of galunggong as the gauge of our economy Citing NSO statistics, Oreta also deplored that the price of other fish rose by 1.6 percent, vegetables by 6.4 percent, meat by 3.5 percent and rice by 1.8 percent. With this trend, Oreta said Filipino families can hardly afford three meals a day. Whatever happened to the much-vaunted Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) program. So much money down the drain for impact projects such as this, without any visible and tangible dividends to the public. Food for Mang Pandoy and Jason is not only scarce; it is way beyond their reach.

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They are talking in loud whispers at the DA about questionable deals, principally in the acquisition of ships and patrol boats. Lorenzo should get to the bottom of this, put an end to the whispers and prosecute those responsible whoever may be their connections or relatives.


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