MANILA, Philippines – Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio maintained on Tuesday, December 10, that rice smuggling is not a “prevailing and continuing problem,” in response to the question of Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers.
“I’m sure you are very much aware that the problem of smuggling of rice is a prevailing and continuing problem even up to this moment that I speak. Is that correct?” Barbers asked Rubio during the House quinta committee hearing.
“No, your Honor,” said Rubio.
According to the BOC commissioner, the best indicator of rice smuggling are legal importers complaining about competition.
“I believe that if there’s rice smuggling, the [price of] rice smugglers will probably be lower than the price of the legitimate importers,” Rubio explained.
“And the legitimate importers, since they cannot compete with the smugglers, I think they would reduce their importations or probably they would not import anymore,” he continued.
Rubio said that imports undergo inspections, and bulk shipments like rice come with load port survey reports prepared by accredited cargo surveyors.
For rice shipments in particular, he pointed out that the inspectorate and enforcement office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is now with them when checking the products.
Rubio’s statement runs counter to what Carlos Carag, the DA assistant secretary for inspectorate and enforcement, said during the first quinta committee hearing last November 26.
At the time, Carag told Marikina 2nd District Representative Stella Quimbo that smuggling is the main reason why the price of rice does not decrease despite the tariff reduction from 35% to 15%.
Quimbo, who is an economist, said that was counterintuitive because smugglers do not pay taxes and thus can sell rice at much lower prices than legitimate competitors.
“Why is that supposed to be the reason for why the price is high?” Quimbo asked. Carag was not able to properly answer the lawmaker but maintained his stance that smuggling remains the biggest problem as to why price of rice remains high.
The DA official was not present in the second hearing on Tuesday.
Still, lots of smuggled goods enter borders
Despite what Rubio said, smuggled goods still abound. In the same hearing, Rubio said they estimate that apprehended agricultural products have reached 856 million metric tons. The commissioner has yet to provide a specific number for apprehended rice supply.
Iloilo 4th District Representative Ferjenel Biron, who asked Rubio about the volume of apprehended goods, said smuggling is a question that is linked to the oversupply and high prices of rice.
“We should consider this since our question here is, it was established earlier that there is actually oversupply of rice. And yet despite the oversupply, prices are not coming down. Oversupply is compounded also by smuggled goods,” Biron said on Tuesday in a mix of Filipino and English.
The Philippine Statistics Authority earlier presented supply and demand estimates from 2018 to 2023, as well as January to September 2024, showing that rice supply has consistently exceeded demand.
For the first two hearings of quinta committee, also called the “Murang Pagkain Super Committee,” lawmakers have been questioning various agencies on why rice prices remain high despite the tariff reduction under Executive Order No. 62. – Rappler.com