Lacson Pushes 3-Pronged Solution to Finally Stop Agricultural Smuggling, Corruption

Lacson Pushes 3-Pronged Solution to Finally Stop Agricultural Smuggling, Corruption

Full automation of Customs operations, throwing the book at erring personnel minus double standards, and leadership by example.

This is the three-pronged solution needed to finally stop the persistent problem of agricultural smuggling as well as corruption in all agencies of government, Sen. Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson said Wednesday.

"First, it is time to fully automate our Customs operations just like most, if not all, of our trading partner countries. Everything, from the filing of application for accreditation all the way to payment of taxes and duties, should be done online. This will eliminate human intervention every step of the way. Tingnan ko na lang kung makapang-kurakot pa ang mga tiwaling kawani nila (Let's see if corrupt personnel can still engage in corruption)," Lacson said.

Second, Lacson said, is to throw the book at erring personnel by applying only one standard in dealing with such scalawags.

But the third and most important measure is to practice leadership by example - a trait Lacson practiced during his careers both in law enforcement and lawmaking.

"This applies to all agencies of government, by the way," Lacson said of the three-pronged solution, which he will strictly implement should he win the presidential election in May 2022.

On Tuesday, Lacson scored the persistence of agricultural smuggling, despite three laws having been passed to stop it.

He also questioned why the Bureau of Customs, during the Senate's hearing on the matter on Tuesday, reported filing only 75 cases, in spite of reporting to have intercepted/raided hundreds of smuggling activities in their anti-smuggling operations.

"Wala pang nakukulong (And up to now, no one has gone to jail for agricultural smuggling)," Lacson said in an interview on Radyo 5.

"Importante na mag-automate tayo. May batas tayo, ang Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. Computerized tayo pero ayaw mag-automate (We have to automate our systems. We have the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. But while our systems are computerized, we do not seem to want to undergo automation)," he added.

On the other hand, Lacson said the right person should be appointed for the post. He cited the case of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which is a health insurance agency that should be headed by one with knowledge of finance matters - yet whose ex-officio chairman is a doctor.

"Sa skills matching, may diperensya tayo kung sino ang ina-appoint. Hindi tugma ang position sa skills (We have a problem with skills matching. The appointees' skills don't match with the requirements of the job)," Lacson said.

In the meantime, Lacson said the Bureau of Customs should use its intelligence funds to unmask the violators of the laws against agricultural smuggling. He also vowed no letup in investigating the problem. "Institutional and organizational ang problema (The problem is institutional and organizational)," he said.

**********

Read More

Lacson scolds agri execs for allowing food imports that are ‘killing’ local farmers

Lacson scolds agri execs for allowing food imports that are ‘killing’ local farmers

Despite the drop in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Benguet farmers continue to produce salad vegetables, like carrots, beans, lettuce, cabbages, and cauliflower, in 2020 and this year. They are now facing stiff competition from cheap smuggled carrots.

MANILA, Philippines — “Why are you killing your fellow Filipinos?”

Sen. Panfilo Lacson posed this question to agriculture officials at a Senate inquiry on Tuesday as he scolded them for allowing the “invasion” of the country by Korean strawberries and vegetables at the expense of local farmers.

“We are killing the local industry. Why import strawberries and carrots when we have strawberries and carrots here? I think your commitment to your fellow Filipinos should be more important than your commitment with importers,” Lacson said, addressing the Bureau of Plant Industry, which is under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA).

Fruits declared as ‘ornamental plants’

Senators conducted the inquiry after a representative of a Benguet farmers’ group raised to them the problems caused by “smuggled” strawberries declared as “ornamental plants” and vegetables from other countries.

Agot Balanoy, public relations officer of the League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Areas, said these “smuggled” products not only negatively impact local farmers but are also feared to be unsafe due to a lack of pest risk analysis at the borders.

“In Benguet alone, we have 130,000 farmers who depend on agriculture, who depend on farming for their meager income,” she said, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English. “Now, if we don’t help these farmers, where will they get their income?”

She noted that farmers in Benguet and other parts of the Cordillera region supply 1.5 million kilograms of assorted vegetables to key markets in the Philippines daily.

“With this entry of smuggled goods, there are no orders for our vegetables here. The prices drop,” she said.

She particularly mentioned carrots and cabbages allegedly smuggled from China and Korean strawberries declared as “ornamental plants,” which she said continued to flood the markets.

“Of late, we have Korean strawberries arriving in Cebu, and we have learned that weekly there will be two container vans of strawberries arriving in Cebu,” she said, noting each container van is presumed to carry 25,000 kilograms of produce.

“We are wondering why the Department of Agriculture, through BPI, allowed this — because they have a permit. But their permit is for ornamental plants. Strawberries, according to our agriculturist here, are not ornamental plants,” Balanoy added.

“That is misdeclaration. Misdeclaration is a form of smuggling,” she stressed.

Smugglers, protectors

According to Balanoy, farmers are also “dismayed” over the failure to identify the smugglers of these products and their “protectors.”

“Why can we not identify the smugglers themselves? The protectors? They are so bold,” she added.

According to an official of the DA, the department is equally concerned about the issue of smuggling in the country.

“Smuggling is economic sabotage and this is hurting our farmers and fisherfolks. The Department of Agriculture has been looking into this issue and we have set up certain measures to curb smuggling,” DA Undersecretary for Regulations Zamzamin Ampatuan told senators.

“The basic concern of the DA is to ensure that these foods are safe and that they follow sanitary and phytosanitary standards, which is the basis for allowing import,” he added.

Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, for his part, said a total of 55 criminal complaints had been filed by his bureau in the last three years against personalities over alleged smuggling — with 29 of those complaints filed in 2021.

Further, Guerrero said the BOC undertook 172 apprehensions of smuggled agricultural products this year.
“Our border protection and anti-smuggling efforts are being implemented through the conduct of intelligence and enforcement operations supported by our risk management system,” he said.

“It involves the examination and inspection of shipments at the ports and raids on warehouses and storage facilities containing smuggled goods,” he added.

*********

Read More

Ping Lacson: Panayam sa Radyo 5 (Ted Failon and DJ Chacha) | Dec. 15, 2021

Ping Lacson: Panayam sa Radyo 5 (Ted Failon and DJ Chacha) | Dec. 15, 2021

(Please Watch and Share)

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Read More

LACSON-SOTTO HEADLINES NGAYON DISYEMBRE 15, 2021

 LACSON-SOTTO HEADLINES NGAYON DISYEMBRE 15, 2021

Read More

Lacson, Sotto praise Duterte, Go for choosing ‘peace as their path’

Lacson, Sotto praise Duterte, Go for choosing ‘peace as their path’

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo Lacson has praised President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Go for choosing “peace as their path” as they withdrew their respective certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the May 2022 elections.

Both Duterte and Go on Tuesday formally dropped out from next year’s senatorial and presidential derby, respectively.

“Pres Duterte and Sen Bong Go have chosen peace as their path. Let’s give it to them and wish them well,” Lacson said in a tweet.

Lacson’s running mate, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, also welcomed the development calling it “a wise move.”

“It takes a wise man to sacrifice something that he loves and give way to others who can serve our country better,” Sotto said in a statement.

*********

Read More

LACSON-SOTTO ONLINE KUMUSTAHAN DECEMBER 18, 2021

LACSON-SOTTO ONLINE KUMUSTAHAN DECEMBER 18, 2021

 

Read More

I LOVE MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND!

 I LOVE MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND!

Read More

Lacson Takes Up Cudgels for Filipino Farmers Threatened by Korean Strawberry Entry, High Soya Prices

Lacson Takes Up Cudgels for Filipino Farmers Threatened by Korean Strawberry Entry, High Soya Prices

December 14, 2021 - "Why are you killing your fellow Filipinos? Gusto nyo mawalan ng hanapbuhay ang kababayan natin sa La Trinidad (Do you want our farmers in La Trinidad to lose their livelihood)?"

Sen. Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson directed this question Tuesday at the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) for allowing the "invasion" or importation of Korean strawberries into the country, at the expense of strawberry farmers in La Trinidad.

Lacson also echoed the concerns of the La Trinidad farmers that the entry of strawberries from Korea may also introduce pests and diseases that may affect Philippine agriculture.

"We are killing the local industry. Why import strawberries and carrots when we have strawberries and carrots here? I think your commitment to your fellow Filipinos should be more important than your commitment with importers," he told BPI's Ariel Bayot.

Also, Lacson rejected the reported claim by the BPI that it allows the importation of Korean strawberries because they have a different target market compared to La Trinidad strawberries.

Korean strawberries are reportedly sold at P1,500 per kilo while those from La Trinidad are sold at P200 per kilo. However, strawberries from Korea instead of those from La Trinidad are made available in high-end retail outlets.

Adding insult to injury, Lacson stressed, is that the importation is happening now during the peak season for strawberries. "Para kayo nananadya (It's as if you're doing this on purpose)," he told the BPI.

"Ang worry dito ng mga taga-La Trinidad, hindi lang ang influx ng smuggled agricultural products. Pag napasukan pa ng peste, yan pa isang concern kasi hindi dumadaan sa inspection (The worry of farmers especially in La Trinidad in Benguet is not just the influx of smuggled agricultural products. They are also concerned about agricultural pests that manage to slip past our authorities' inspection)," Lacson added.

Meanwhile, Lacson urged the DA to extend intervention to farmers who face the prospect of fertilizer prices being doubled due to the rising prices of soya despite the downward movement of soya prices in the international market.

"Whatever assistance you can render. Tataas ang meat products na locally produced, tataas din ang presyo ng gulay. Kailangan ng intervention (Whatever assistance you can render, do it because prices of local vegetables and meat products could go up. Intervention is needed)," he said.

*********

Read More

Lacson Scores Unabated Agricultural Smuggling Despite 'Overregulation'

Lacson Scores Unabated Agricultural Smuggling Despite 'Overregulation'

December 14, 2021 - We're already overregulated, but agricultural smuggling still goes unabated.

Sen. Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson thus scored Tuesday the unabated smuggling of agricultural products into the Philippines despite so many laws and procedures in place to stop it.

He reiterated it is high time the Bureau of Customs completed its efforts to automate its systems to stop the corruption that has allowed such smuggling.

"Ang legitimate, overregulated. Ang illegal, walang regulation (Legitimate importers have a hard time due to overregulation. But the illegal ones don't have to put up with regulations)," Lacson said at the Senate Committee of the Whole's hearing on the issue.

Lacson said that if the BOC can be like other countries where all systems are fully automated, there would be little if any room for bribery and smuggling.

"That’s the ideal situation. Kung ganoon sana mangyari magdoble sana revenues natin (That's the ideal situation where there is no human contact in transactions. If we can do this, our revenues will double)," he said.

Customs commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero agreed with Lacson, saying they are working to make their systems "faceless and contactless."

Lacson noted the regulations of the government - from registering business names with the Department of Trade and Industry, to getting mayors' permits, accreditation with the Bureau of Customs and Securities and Exchange Commission, to enlistment by the Department of Agriculture food safety regulatory authority as an importer, among others - should make it difficult if not impossible for smuggling.

Meanwhile, Lacson questioned as well why the DA has two agencies under it that issue Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances (SPSIC) - the National Meat Inspection Service and Bureau of Animal Industry - when only the NMIS is mandated to do so.

"Kaya magulo, kasi masyadong maraming ahensya (It is confusing because so many agencies are given this function)," he said.

"We cannot understand sa dami ng procedures, dadaan sa butas ng karayom, ang daming smuggling. Bakit ang daming carrots, broccoli at imported pork? Ito ang hindi namin maintindihan, lalo ng mga affected, they would never understand (We cannot understand that with the number of procedures such that importers have to pass through the eye of the needle, why is smuggling still rampant? So many carrots, broccoli and imported pork. This is something we will never understand, especially those who are affected)," he added.

"Ang suspetsa ko, hindi inter-agency cooperation. Inter-agency conspiracy, kaya lumulusot (I suspect not inter-agency cooperation but inter-agency conspiracy). I'm not referring to high-level conspiracy, I am referring to the personnel on the ground," Lacson noted.

*********

Read More

Dreading debt

Dreading debt

As of today, our government owes money equivalent to nearly two-thirds of all incomes generated in the economy in a year. The total debt owed by the national government as of the third quarter stood at P11.92 trillion, which is about 63 percent of the projected full-year gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021. The World Bank reported over the weekend the approval of a new $600 million (P30 billion) loan package for the Philippine government. By the time President Duterte hands over power to his successor next year, the national debt is projected to well exceed P13 trillion.

That debt grew by more than half (55 percent) in the last two years, from P7.7 trillion in 2019, even as the overall economy has barely grown since. Like most other governments around the world, increased borrowing was the only recourse to meet the great cost of managing the serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health and on the economy. In 2019, the total national debt amounted to only 39.6 percent of the P19.5 trillion GDP. Some 16 years before, that national debt, while only P3.36 trillion, was at the historical peak of 78 percent of GDP, and the country was teetering at the edge of financial collapse. The debt burden was so heavy that at its worst, nine out of every ten pesos of revenues collected by the government just went to interest and principal amortization payments for the government’s debt. So the only way to keep the government running to serve the needs of the people was to keep borrowing more.

Fortunately, a country’s national debt is not the same as the debt of a person or family, which must be fully paid off at some point. The difference between a family and the government is that the latter can keep rolling over its debt—that is, borrow new loans to pay off previous ones—indefinitely into the future. Thus, we need not be unduly alarmed at the thought, as some like to (misleadingly) describe it, that every Filipino carries around P107,000 in debt on his/her head (i.e., P11.92 trillion of national debt divided among 111 million Filipinos), as if we’d all have to pay such amount sooner or later.

The other difference is that a government can actually choose to print more money to pay off its debt. Many governments actually did that irresponsibly in the past, but that was before it became more widely understood that doing so indiscriminately would be counterproductive, as it leads to heightened price inflation, even hyperinflation if carried too far. Central banks know that the supply of money in the economy should not outpace the growth of actual production of goods and services (measured by GDP), because “too much money chasing too few goods” will naturally and inevitably push prices up.

The key is to manage debt so that the burden of debt service payments does not overwhelm the government the way it did ours before. In the end, the question boils down to how much debt a country can sustainably carry and not risk a fiscal collapse, or social unrest, or both. A debt-to-GDP ratio of 60 percent is considered the threshold beyond which sustainability is put into question. To stabilize the ratio, debt must not be allowed to grow faster than GDP does.

So where do we stand as far as our ballooning debt is concerned? As the saying goes, misery loves company. The fact is, we are far from alone in seeing public debt escalate in the wake of the pandemic, which flattened economies and shrank tax revenues amid hiked spending needs.

Countries with much higher debt-to-GDP ratios than our current 63 percent include Japan (225 percent), Singapore (150 percent), the United States (135 percent), and Spain (123 percent), although these are strong economies able to collect more taxes relative to GDP than we can. But the other positive factor now in our (and everybody else’s) favor is the relatively low interest rates that help keep debt service costs lower than they used to be in the past.

What’s crucial is that we outgrow our debt, the way we managed to do since our last fiscal crisis, especially after 2010. That means we should make sure the money we borrow effectively leads our economy to grow faster, and to the benefit of all Filipinos.

*********

Read More

Ping Lacson: Ang Daming Regulations, Bakit Tuloy pa Rin ang Agricultural Smuggling?

Ping Lacson: Ang Daming Regulations, Bakit Tuloy pa Rin ang Agricultural Smuggling?

(Please Watch and Share)

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Read More