MANILA: A National Food Authority official confirmed the widespread smuggling of rice in Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao.
NFA Administrator Renan Dalisay revealed the existence of rice smuggling in the whole of Region 9 which include Zamboanga City, before the joint House Committees of Agriculture and Food and Food Security.
In a statement, Dalisay recalled his recent visit to Zamboanga before the House. He observed the very low price of rice in the market which is “a clear indication of a high rice inventory in the area.”
According to Dalisay, NFA’s authority is limited to the verification of import permits and other documents pertinent to the importation of a particular rice shipment.
Meanwhile, the House House Committees on Agriculture and Food and Food Security, chaired by Representatives Mark Llandro L. Mendoza (4th District, Batangas) and Agapito H. Guanlao (Party-List-BUTIL), respectively, deliberated House Resolution 1828 denouncing the rampant rice smuggling to introduce appropriate measures to stop said illegal activities.
Guanlao pointed out that the NFA’s revelation is indeed alarming because Zamboanga is not even a rice-producing province.
Port Manager Liberto dela Rosa of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) Zamboanga backed NFA’s revelation saying that some unscrupulous traders are possibly using the 76 ports in Zamboanga as drop off points for their smuggled goods.
Dela Rosa however admitted that the PPA has no authority to monitor illegal activities in the private ports.
The author of HR 1828, Lilia Macrohon-Nuño (2nd District, Zamboanga City) said the measure seeks to stop the smuggling of rice, logs, and sugar not only in Zamboanga City, but all over the country as well.
Macrohon-Nuño added that smuggling activities not only hurt the local farmers and legitimate traders but also the national economy.
“Smuggled goods, particularly smuggled rice, are killing the local rice farmers in Zamboanga City whose very aim is to send their children to school and to have decent means of living,” Macrohon-Nuño stressed.
Dianne Silva, director of NFA Region IX, the Bureau of Customs is mandated to enforce the laws on anti-smuggling, including the job of confiscating illegally imported rice.
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