DA heads firm upanti-smuggling initiatives

Heads and representatives of different DA attached agencies, bureaus, service units and banner programs
 convene to firm up anti-smuggling efforts to address the concerns of private sector entities and stakeholders.

Heads of different attached agencies and bureaus of the Department of Agriculture convened last June 11 at the Apacible Conference Room, DA Compound, Quezon City to draw up means to strengthen anti-smuggling initiatives and address other related issues.

This is in answer to the growing concern of many private sector entities and stakeholders with regard to the rampant smuggling of agriculture and fishery products in the country, as discussed in many meetings of the National Agricultural and Fishery Council’s (NAFC) sectoral committees.

DA Undersecretary Emerson Palad led the said meeting which was organized by NAFC. Representatives from different DA service units and banner programs, as well as members of DA Secretary Proceso Alcala's Technical Advisory Group (STAG), were also present to give feedback, inputs and recommendations.

“We will be forwarding all recommendations and suggestions generated from this meeting to the Secretary to help him set what direction to take with regard the issue of smuggling,” Usec. Palad said.

The meeting tackled the stakeholders concerns on the initiatives of concerned DA agencies and bureaus that address the smuggling of livestock and poultry products, rice, fruits, vegetables and other commodities and related products.

On the issue of accessing the Bureau of Custom's Inward Foreign Manifest (IFM), the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) was tasked to follow up Secretary Alcala’s April 30 letter to Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon requesting that the BOC System (E2M)be also installed at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) so that BAI Quarantine Officers there can also access the IFM.

IFMis a document containinginformation on the names of importers, identification of the imported product, the prices, source country, the ship it will arrive in, and date of arrival.

On the monitoring of the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) collections, the BAI-Quarantine and the MAV Secretariat were tasked to reconcile data on MAV collections for the entire 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.

Dr. Jocelyn Salvador of NMIS also suggested the inclusion of the MAV import clearance application in the DA Trade System for easy monitoring of MAV collections.

On the entry of smuggled Peking ducks, the DA officials assured that the Department will support the full implementation of the second border DA Harmonized Inspection Protocol for Meat, Aquatic and Plant Products as proposed by the National Meat Inspection Service.

The body also tackled the creation of an anti-smuggling task force for rice and the granting of the right of first refusal to the National Food Authority (NFA) on the bidding of seized smuggled rice to help curb the unscrupulous practice in the system.

On the access of trade information, BAI Assistant Director Simeon Amurao called for other agencies issuing Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary import clearance, such as the NFA and Sugar Regulatory Administration,to participate in the DA Trade System so that import arrivals can easily be determined.

The misdeclaration of imported agricultural products, widespread smuggling in Davao and Cagayan regions, limited import permits for red and white onions and the entry of banned agricultural chemicals in the country were also discussed. It was suggested that local government units be involved in the monitoring and regulation of the entry of smuggled products.