Mindanaotoday.com | New law sought in drive vs. smuggling
By: Jigger Jerusalem
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – As prices of some basic agricultural commodities, particularly onions, continue to skyrocket, there is now a move in the senate to amend the existing anti-smuggling law that would put a harsher penalty on those involved in taking advantage of farmers and consumers, a lawmaker said Thursday, Jan. 19.
During her visit here, Sen. Cynthia Villar said they will repeal Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 and put in place in a measure that would protect the farmers against unfair trade practices.
RA 10845 declared large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage.
“We will repeal it (anti-smuggling law) and write a new law that would prohibit any move that will take advantage of consumers and farmers. Included in the new legislation is to penalize cartels and those engaged in large-scale agricultural smuggling should be put to jail,” Villar, who’s the chair on agriculture in the senate, told reporters during an impromptu press conference.
Villar was here as guest speaker of the 1st Regional Farmers Summit held at a private school in Barangay Macasandig, this city.
She said what is questionable about RA 10845 was its implementing rules and regulations, which one of them stipulated that the government office that runs after violators of this law is the Bureau of Customs.
“Paano naman yun? Mali, mali (How do we go about it? [It’s wrong, wrong]),” Villar said, referring to RA 10845’s IRR that favors the Customs in going after these economic saboteurs. She did not elaborate.
The legislator has also assured that there is an abundance of supply of onions in the country, but only that unscrupulous business operators have a hand in its scarcity in the market and its escalating prices.
“There is no shortage of onions,” Villar said.
She said the continuing spike in the price of onions is actually caused by businessmen who buy this produce cheap and sell it at a higher price.
“Traders and importers control the price of onions. They buy onions at very low price and store them, which our famers cannot do as they have no storage facility. Because of that, the farmers are forced to sell their produce a lower price or else these will just rot,” Villar said.
The senator said one of the ways to help the onion farmers is for them to have a storage facility for their products so they can sell it as they see fit.
The situation, she added, has already gotten out of hand that some onion farmers, news reports said, have committed suicide since they were unable to recover from mounting debts and losses.
For instance, Villar said, onions in Mindoro are being bought at P15 per kilo but are now sold at P600.
Villar also said that if the government is to import onions, it must not do so during the harvest time but during the planting season. (MT)
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