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THE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said it would strip
search all reefer vans and refrigerated containers passing through
Customs inspection in a move to end the smuggling of vegetables and
other farm products into the country Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the
operation would add teeth to the government’s current campaign
against smuggling, especially in barring the illegal entry of cheap
agricultural products to the disadvantage local products.
“The government, through the DA and other
concerned agencies and offices, remains committed to protect the
interests of Filipino farmers and legitimate importers,” said Yap
said at a recent vegetable growers’ forum.
Yap said the “smuggling not only threatens the
existence of local agricultural providers, but also translates into
loss of much-needed revenues that could have been used to provide
additional services on education, health, housing and other poverty
alleviation programs of the government.”
The Agriculture department through the Bureau of
Plant Industry has teamed up with the Bureau of Customs for crafting
the three-point program that involves strictly implementing
quarantine rules, including the conduct of pest risk analysis on new
vegetable imports; conducting a thorough review of ship manifesto
and import permits; and accrediting agriculture industry
representatives in all ocular inspections of imported farm and
fishery shipments.
“One of the most recent results of this
partnership,” Yap said, “was the apprehension by Plant
Quarantine Staff of 4x40 container vans of onions without the
required plant quarantine clearance at the Manila International
Container Port in January this year.”
Yap said 96 of 40-foot containers carrying
illegally imported crop commodities were intercepted by authorities
in 2008.
“We have been proposing that the Customs
bureau conduct a “100 percent strip search” or full examination
of all reefer vans and refrigerated containers,” he said in a
speech that was read for him by Rene Rafael Espino, national
coordinator of the DA’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani-High Value
Commercial Crops (GMA-HVCC) Program.
Yap is currently in Manado, Indonesia for the
World Ocean Conference.
Furthermore, the DA continues to tap
non-government organizations, such as the Agricultural Sector
Alliance of the Philippines and Alyansa Agrikultura, to help the
government accredit agriculture industry representatives from
farmers and fisherfolk organizations in all ocular inspections of
imported shipments of agriculture and fishery products to be
conducted by the DA, whether in the port of destination or in cold
storage facilities and warehouses.
-- Ira Karen Apanay
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