The Senate passed on third and final reading a bill imposing severe sanctions against smugglers, profiteers, hoarders and cartels of agricultural and fishery products.
Voting 18-0-0, senators approved Senate Bill No. (SBN) 2432 or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.
The bill repeals Republic Act No. 10845, otherwise known as the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. saw the need to immediately pass the measure by certifying it as urgent, citing the rising prices of agricultural products caused by hoarding, smuggling and other illegal activities.
The bill defines the crime of agricultural economic sabotage as any act or activity that disrupts the economy by creating artificial shortage, promoting excessive importation, manipulating prices and supply, evading payment or underpaying tariffs and customs duties, threatening local production and food security, gaining excessive or exorbitant profits by exploiting situations, creating scarcity, and entering into agreements that defeat fair competition to the prejudice of the public.
The Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council headed by the President shall be created composed of national government agencies and representatives from the agricultural sectors. It shall also create the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Enforcement Group.
Violations of this Act shall be under the jurisdiction of the Court of Tax Appeals.
“Severe penalties are needed to deter smuggling and abusive market practices.”
Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform and sponsor of the measure, said severe penalties are needed to deter smuggling and abusive market practices which threaten the well-being of agricultural producers and welfare of the consumers, and the economy as a whole.
The following agricultural and fishery products are covered under the bill: rice, corn, beef and other ruminants, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, other vegetables, fruits, fish, salt and other aquatic products, in their raw state or which have undergone the simple process of preparation or preservation for the market within the primary and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain, palm oil, palm olein, raw and refined sugar, and tobacco.
Under the bill, the crime of agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage is committed when the value of each, or a combination of agricultural and fishery products smuggled by a person is at least P3 million using the daily price index computed at the time the crime was committed.
Agricultural smuggling as used in this measure shall be committed through any of the following acts:
(a) Importing or bringing into the Philippines agricultural and fishery products without the required import clearance from the regulatory agencies;
(b) Using import clearance of persons other than those specifically named in the permit;
(c) Using fake, false, fictitious or fraudulent import clearance, shipping documents or any other transport documentation;
(d) Selling, lending, leasing, assigning, consenting to or allowing the use of import clearance of corporations, non-government organizations, associations, cooperatives, partnerships, or single proprietorships by other persons;
(e) Misclassification, undervaluation or misdeclaration upon the filing of import entry declaration or transport documentation with the Bureau of Customs in order to evade the payment of correct taxes and duties due the government;
(f) Organizing or using dummy corporations, non-government organizations, associations, cooperatives, partnerships, or single proprietorships for the purpose of acquiring import clearance;
(g) Knowingly transporting or storing smuggled agricultural and fishery products;
(h) Acting as a broker of the importer; or
(i) Allowing the use of a private port, fish port, fish landing site, resort, and/or airport to perpetrate economic sabotage.
Agricultural hoarding as economic sabotage is committed by a person or combination of persons by having stocks of agricultural and fishery products in excess of thirty 30 percent of their normal inventory level two weeks after the declaration of an abnormal situation by the Council, or an emergency or state of calamity declared by competent authority.
Agricultural profiteering as economic sabotage is the sale or offering for sale of each agricultural and fishery products at a price at least 10 percent in excess of the daily price index at the time of the declaration of an abnormal situation by the Council, or emergency or state of calamity declared by competent authority.
There shall be prima facie engagement in cartel as economic sabotage through any agreement between two or more persons competing for the same market and dealing in the same agricultural and fishery products to perform uniform, simultaneous, or complementary acts among themselves and actually perform such acts designed to artificially and unreasonably increase or manipulate the supply or prices of such products, thereby stifling competition, as defined in Section 14 of Republic Act No. 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act.
“The penalty of life imprisonment and a fine thrice the value of the agricultural and fishery products subject of the crime shall be imposed on any person who commits agricultural smuggling, agricultural hoarding, agricultural profiteering and engaging in cartel.”
The penalty of life imprisonment and a fine thrice the value of the agricultural and fishery products subject of the crime shall be imposed on any person who commits agricultural smuggling, agricultural hoarding, agricultural profiteering and engaging in cartel.
The bill also prohibits the act of financing agricultural economic sabotage crimes, which shall also have the penalty of life imprisonment.
Under the bill, it shall be a crime for any employee of any member of the Enforcement Group to commit any of the following acts:
A. Extortion or willful oppression under color of law;
B. Knowingly demanding other documents or records that are irrelevant to the case at hand or unjustifiably extending the constructive custody of the goods;
C. Failing to report knowledge or information to their superior officer about the commission of an act or acts punishable under this Act;
D. Accepting or attempting to collect directly or indirectly any sum of money or other thing of value for the compromise adjustment or settlement of any charge or complaint for any violation of this Act; and
E. Unlawfully disclosing confidential information gained during any investigation or audit, or using such information for personal gain or to the detriment of the government or third parties.
Every officer, agent, or employee of any member of the enforcement group who shall be found guilty of committing any prohibited acts shall be penalized with imprisonment of not less than six years but not more than 12 years, and perpetual disqualification to hold public office, from exercising the right to vote and to participate in any public election and a fine of not less than P500, 000 but not more than P1 million.
To assist the Council in the expeditious prosecution of criminal cases covered under the bill, the Secretary of the Department of Justice is mandated to constitute a special team of prosecutors all over the country, which shall evaluate evidence, act on criminal complaints, initiate and conduct preliminary investigation, and timely file and prosecute the appropriate criminal charges against the person/s responsible for the crimes of smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and cartel as economic sabotage and other prohibited acts under this act.
Items subject of smuggling shall, after filing of the criminal case, the Court may, within 72 hours, conduct an ocular inspection of the confiscated, seized or surrendered agricultural and fishery products, and within 24 hours thereafter be destroyed by the enforcement group in the presence of the media, the DOJ, any elected public official and representative of agriculture and fishery sector.
Locally sourced agricultural and fishery products subject of the crimes of hoarding, profiteering and cartel may be donated by the Council to the DSWD or LGUs or disposed of in any manner.
Properties used in the commission of the crimes of agricultural economic sabotage such as, but not limited to, vehicles, vessels, aircrafts, storage areas, warehouses, boxes, cases, trunks and other containers of whatever character confiscated, seized, or surrendered in favor of the government.
The proposed law mandates the Bureau of Customs and all Trade Regulatory Agencies to fully implement the National Single Window Program (NSW) within 90 days from the effectivity of this Act.
The law provides for a citizen suit, that any person may directly file a criminal complaint either with the Department of Justice or an administrative complaint with the appropriate government agency.
“It is high-time that we have an Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council, an Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Enforcement Group, as well as a special team of prosecutors. With these in place, we will have a watchdog in the agricultural sector to ensure that whoever manipulates the price of agricultural commodities to the detriment of the small farmers and consumers, will be brought to justice accordingly,” Villar concluded.
