House Committee on Ways and Means chairperson Joey Salceda has proposed the creation of the Agricultural Trade Intelligence and Investigation Service (ATIIS) to combat the smuggling of agricultural products.
At the same time, Salceda called for the strengthening of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service under the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to level up the fight against smugglers.
Salceda said the granting of police powers to a unit under the Department of Agriculture (DA) was briefly discussed in one of the hearings of his committee.
He called on DA Secretary William Dar and DA Undersecretary Fermin Adriano to make a formal request to the committee and to submit a draft of the proposed measure.
While the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 (RA 10845) classifies large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage, Salceda pointed out that the law did not specify “the strong arm to enforce the law.”
“The BOC is made the lead implementing agency, but even its prosecutorial or enforcement powers are not elaborated enough,” Salceda added.
Under Salceda’s proposal, the ATIIS will be empowered to conduct investigations, apprehend offenders, seize technically smuggled agricultural products, and work with customs enforcement.
The Unit will also be allowed to file charges against offenders of RA 10845, he said.
“I also want the DA unit to work with a strengthened Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service. That will help close the loopholes technical smugglers exploit,” Salceda stressed.
Salceda’s committee is investigating the reports that some P300 billion worth of imported palm oil products were technically smuggled into the country. The palm oil was declared for animal consumption to avoid payment of Value-Added Tax (VAT).
