Benguet farmers league alleges local officials' inaction on vegetable smuggling

The League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Areas on Monday suggested that Benguet local officials have taken no action against agricultural smuggling.

In her presentation at the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing, League public relations officer Agot Balanoy mentioned Benguet's governor and the current caretaker of the lone congressional district of the province.

“Well on this slide, we do not know if this is really an action or inaction. Our caretaker claimed that he filed a probe in the Congress or before the Congress last year, this was the month of October, we do not know if he really filed because there was no invitation for the investigation,” Balanoy said.

“We have not heard of any investigation in the Congress. It is only the Senate that is conducting an investigation and well if we look at the news, his name, our caretaker here, his name came out on the articles, him being identified as being one of the smugglers,” Balanoy alleged.

The representative of the Benguet farmers association said they had been asking their representative-caretaker for a copy of the filed measure for the investigation but to no avail.

“So we really do not know if his action of filing an investigation before the Congress is really true or not. We have been asking for a copy of the filed... of that paper that he filed but he never gave us any proof that he did really file a sort of a request of investigation,” she said.

Balanoy also claimed the incumbent Benguet governor had not taken any measure against the influx of smuggled agricultural products.

“Even now, our governor here, [who] is the sparring partner of our caretaker, we are sorry to say that there is no action that we got from this governor that we have here,” she said.

At the latter part of the hearing, Senator Francis Pangilinan asked for more details on the allegation that the caretaker-representative was allegedly involved in smuggling.

According to Balanoy, they got the information from a Manila Time report in 2017 which was based on the privilege speech of Senator Panfilo Lacson about the “tara” system at the Bureau of Customs.

The caretaker-representative’s name was mentioned during Lacson’s 2017 privilege speech which exposed the “Tara” list or the list of individuals who allegedly received money from the smuggling activities in the BOC.

This information on the “tara” list was confirmed by Lacson during the Senate’s investigation into agricultural smuggling.

“May nakompromiso, I agree, but at the same time may untouchable. May mga untouchable na malakas ang kapit na ayaw nilang habulin. ‘Yan ang basa ko d’yan,” Pangilinan said.

(Someone was compromised, I agree, but at the same time there are individuals who are untouchable. These untouchables have powerful backers that's why they do not want to chase after them.)

“’Yan din ang nakaranasan natin sa paghahabol ng involved sa rice smuggling," the senator added. "at least nung panahon na ‘yon walang untouchable kasi talagang sinampahan natin ng mga kaso, sinuspende natin yung mga kasabwat.

"Pero dito, kung talagang walang kilos at lantaran yes, compromised, may nakokomprimiso sa BOC sa DA at may mga untouchable na ayaw nila habulin masyado sigurong malapit sa mga nakaupo kaya ganyan ang sitwasyon,”

(That is the same experience that we had when we were going after those who were involved in rice smuggling. But at least during that time, there were no untouchables because we were able to file charges against them and we were able to seek their suspension from office.

But in this case, there were no actions. People at the BOC and the DA were compromised and there are untouchables that they cannot hold liable. That's why we are in this situation.)

GMA News Online has sought comment from both the caretaker-representative and the governor on Balanoy’s testimony, but neither had responded as of posting time.

The Senate Committee of the Whole is investigating the proliferation of smuggled agricultural products in the Philippine market.

The panel is also looking into the issues in the Bureau of Customs that are related to the smuggling of crops.

In the same presentation, Balanoy said Benguet farmers were losing around P2.5 million daily due to the influx of smuggled carrots in the market. — DVM, GMA News