Senate agri panel cites BOC official in contempt amid agri-smuggling probe

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform on Wednesday cited in contempt an official of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for his inconsistent statements about the release of shipments containing smuggled agricultural products.

During the Senate panel’s hearing on the country’s agricultural and food crises, Senator Erwin Tulfo moved to cite Juan San Andres, acting chief of assessment of the Port of Subic, in contempt.

This was due to inconsistencies in San Andres’ statements regarding the release of three containers from the port with smuggled agricultural products. 

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, chair of the Senate agriculture, food, and agrarian panel, approved the motion with no objection from other senators. 

“On the basis of the motion as well as the explanation of Mr. San Andres, together with clarification from [Agriculture] Undersecretary Carlos Carag, we second the motion. You are cited in contempt by this committee,” he said. 

During Wednesday’s hearing, Carag confirmed the attempt to bring the three containers consigned to Berches Consumer Goods Trading to a non-existent warehouse in Angat, Bulacan. 

San Andres initially claimed that the operation to bring three containers out of the Port of Subic for a 100% physical examination at the supposed Berches warehouse was done in coordination with the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s Inspectorate and Enforcement (DAIE) unit. 

However, Carag said the DAIE went after several BOC personnel after finding out that the containers were released from the port. 

Although the containers were eventually returned to the Port of Subic, Pangilinan questioned San Andres’ recollection of events, particularly for the issuance of the mission order after he gave instructions to one of the BOC staff to join the underguarding.

San Andres denied this and also failed to justify why the containers were released despite having possibly smuggled agricultural products.

Pangilinan underscored the threat that agricultural smuggling poses to national security.

“Nariyan ang threat pero napaka-lamya ng kilos ng gobyerno laban sa mga smuggler. Pinapaandar ito ang agri-smuggling operations sa pamamagitan ng mga dummy firms,” he said.

(The threat is there but the government’s actions against smugglers are very lax. Dummy firms are running these agri-smuggling operations.)

“Binabaha ang ports ng Subic at Manila ng mga misdeclared goods, tulad ng mga nabubulok na karne na nagkakahalagang daang milyong piso na tinago sa mga cold storage facilities,” Pangilinan added.

(The ports of Subic and Manila are overflowing with misdeclared goods, such as rotting meat worth hundreds of millions of pesos hidden in cold storage facilities.) — JMA, GMA Integrated News